is a shrine located in Kashima City

Kashima, Saga

is a city located in the southern part of Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū, Japan.-Geography:Kashima is located about 60 kilometers southwest of Saga City. It borders the Ariake Sea to the east and Nagasaki Prefecture to the southwest...

, Saga Prefecture

Saga Prefecture

is located in the northwest part of the island of Kyūshū, Japan. It touches both the Sea of Japan and the Ariake Sea. The western part of the prefecture is a region famous for producing ceramics and porcelain, particularly the towns of Karatsu, Imari, and Arita...

. It is one of the most famous Inari shrines

Inari Shrine

is a shinto shrine to worship the god Inari. There are many Inari shrines in Japan. The deity is worshiped also in some Buddhist temples.-Shrines and offerings:Inari is a popular deity with shrines and Buddhist temples located throughout most of Japan...

 in Japan.

History

Dedicated to Inari

Inari (mythology)

is the Japanese kami of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry and worldly success and one of the principal kami of Shinto. Represented as male, female, or androgynous, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami...

, the wily fox kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

, it is the third largest of its kind in Japan. It was constructed in 1688 as the family shrine of the Nabeshima clan

Nabeshima clan

The Nabeshima clan was a prominent Japanese samurai clan of Kyūshū which controlled Saga Domain from the late Sengoku period through the Edo period.The Nabeshima clan was a cadet branch of the Shōni clan and was descended from the Fujiwara clan...

 who ruled what would become the Saga area (called Hizen

Hizen Province

was an old province of Japan in the area of Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō...

 at that time) during the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

. It was built to the Inari kami of the harvest by a princess from Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 named Manko Hime (萬子媛) who married Nabeshima Naotomo

Nabeshima Naotomo

was a Japanese daimyo of the late Edo period, who ruled the Hasunoike Domain in Hizen Province .-References:...

. The Nabeshima clan was entrusted with protecting Edo’s interests in Kyūshū

Kyushu

is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....

, in particular the city of Nagasaki, which was one of the few ports open to foreign contact during Japan’s period of isolation.
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The shrine is also popular for new year celebrations and is very crowded for the first two weeks around January.

Other Inari shrines

The most important Shintoist Inari Shrine is Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine (Grand Fushimi Inari
Shrine) in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto City. See also Inari Shrines

Inari Shrine

is a shinto shrine to worship the god Inari. There are many Inari shrines in Japan. The deity is worshiped also in some Buddhist temples.-Shrines and offerings:Inari is a popular deity with shrines and Buddhist temples located throughout most of Japan...

.