Tazawa inari jinja

Tazawa Inari Shrine, which enshrines the tutelary deity of the Tazawa district in Chino City.
It is recorded that the shrine was founded in 1237 and was called Inari Daimyojin Shrine.
During the Edo period, in the Eiroku era, it received its name from Fukuda Inari Shrine in Owari Province and was called Fukuda Inari Shrine, but now it is named after the local area.

A torii gate stands about 50 meters away from the shrine grounds, leading through houses and rice fields to the entrance of the shrine.
At the entrance, a shimenawa is hung between two upright pillars, with a sumo ring on the right and a kagura hall on the left.

The kagura hall has a high gabled roof.
A large beam is placed on the gable end, with tokyo and kake-zukuri (frog leg beams) on top.
The walls on both sides have sliding doors, allowing a view inside without doors.

The shinmon (sacred gate) behind the kagura hall is a gabled structure with a flat entrance, housing statues of guards on both sides.
The simple design emphasizes the distinctive structure and atmosphere of the worship hall ahead.

The worship hall, built in 1795 by the first-generation master of the Tachikawa school, Tomimune, measures one ken by one ken, with a copper roof featuring a kara-hafu (curved gable).
Above the rainbow beam are carvings of peonies and karajishi (Chinese guardian lions), and the wooden eaves brackets feature wave carvings, supported by large vase-shaped struts and double-layered rafters.

The main hall, built around the same time as the worship hall in the late 18th century, is an ichinomiya-style nagare-zukuri structure housed within a roofed enclosure.
Surrounded by more than 2-meter-high sacred pillars, the shrine presents a different atmosphere from typical Inari shrines with rows of red torii gates and fox guardians.