Saijo Inarisan

Saijo Inari in Okayama is one of Japan's three most important Inari sites, drawing close to three million worshippers annually, especially at New Year when visitors pray for business prosperity. Despite the Shinto-sounding name, Saijo Inari is a Nichiren Buddhist temple, one of the rare places in Japan where Buddhist and Shinto traditions blend around the veneration of the Inari fox deity. A towering vermillion torii gate marks the entrance, visible across the flat Okayama plain from a distance. The grounds include multiple worship halls, fox statues in dozens of poses, and paths through a hillside bamboo grove. Each spring, a fire-walking ceremony draws a large, animated crowd.