Karasumori Shrine, Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Japan
Karasumori Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Shinbashi, Minato, Tokyo, enshrining Ukanomitama (Inari Ōkami), Ame-no-Uzume and Ninigi-no-Mikoto. A wooden torii gate with two white paper lanterns bearing the characters 烏森神社 spans the approach; twisted straw rope with zigzag paper streamers and green banners hangs from its lower beam.
According to shrine tradition, Fujiwara no Hidesato founded it in 940 after a white fox gave him a white-feathered arrow to quell Taira no Masakado's rebellion, then led him to a grove where crows gathered. A 1455 petition by Kamakura kubō Ashikaga Shigeuji is a Minato City cultural property. In the Edo period its Hatsu-uma Inari festival was among the liveliest in the city.
The shrine's name comes from the crows (karasu) that gathered at the site when Fujiwara no Hidesato founded it, as told in its origin story. The grounds hold a kiyari-zuka mound, and visitors can draw the "shingan iro mikuji" fortune. The shrine's great mikoshi, made in 1930 by the craftsman Yamamoto Shōtarō (known as Dashitetsu), is carried in the grand festival held in alternate years with nearby Hibiya Shrine.
The shrine stands in Shinbashi 2-chome, a two-minute walk from the Karasumori exit of Shinbashi Station. The entrance is marked by a wooden torii hung with two large oval lanterns, one bearing the characters 烏森神社. The grounds are compact, so the visit takes only a few minutes.
The shrine's great portable shrine (mikoshi) was built in 1930 by the master craftsman Yamamoto Shōtarō, known as Dashitetsu, and a shrine leaflet calls it his finest work. The grounds also hold a Kiyari mound, and the shrine issues a coloured fortune slip called Shingan iro mikuji.
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