It is said that the god of grain, agriculture, trade and manufacture came down to Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社 :the head shrine of Inari in Fushimi) in Kyoto on the first horse's day(初午: hatsu-uma) of February in 711 in the lunar calender. Nowadays the Inari shrine rituals are practiced at Fushimi Inari Taisha and its sub-shrines throughout Japan on that day in the solar calender.
Foxes are regarded as the messengers of the god. You can see a pair of stone-carved foxes like this in Inari shrines. Some people offer foxes' favorite, deep-fried bean curd, to the god. So udon (a type of thick wheat-flour noodle) topped with deep-fried bean curd is called "Kitsune(Fox) udon".
押し絵の絵馬ーデザイン/桑原実絵
"Oshie-no-Ema" designed by Mie Kuwabara
Mie Kuwabara, Chirimen-de-Tsukuru-Saikumono-to-Oshie,(Tokyo:Ondori-sha,1999),P.34.
桑原実絵・浜肇子・要海三枝子著,ちりめんで作る細工ものと押し絵(東京:雄鶏社,1999年),p34.
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