Inari Origin Stories: Crafting Narrative in Medieval Japan

By the fifteen century, Inari worshipers had created a vast mythology for their kami that carefully navigated the shifting religious landscape of Japan. Engi, or “origin stories,” from the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries show that authors of such stories were intent on crafting relationships for Inari that carved out an independent identity while curating associations with prominent institutions of the time. In this article, I analyze how medieval proponents of Inari Jinja crafted new narratives of the deity’s origins and deeds in a concerted effort to forge an independent identity for the deity while maintaining vital ties with both Buddhist and Shinto institutions. What provided the Inari tradition with renewed coherence and relevance was not the unification and clarification of these narratives and relationships, but rather their fundamental diversity and ambiguity.