When I visited Taicho-ji Temple in Fukui the other day, I found a small, cute Fox Shrine inside the temple grounds. Strangely, there were no fox statues there, which you'll find in most fox shrines in Japan, and instead, I found a cemetery of jizo statues again here, in an old well. Inside the old, abandoned well, small, moss-covered, broken jizo statues were neatly stored, which somehow mesmerized me. Later, when I called the temple to ask questions, I learned that this Fox Shrine was built by the previous head priest of the temple, Kushi Teijo ( 久志貞浄 ), after WWII, but the current head priest didn't know why, how, and exactly when it was built. What I can tell is, nothing inside this temple has ever been commercialized or scrutinized, and it has been living within the rich nature of Fukui silently, and will live like this for eternity.
Fox Shrine Inside Taicho-ji Temple
Inari Shrine and a cemetery of broken jizo statues
