Yutoku Inari Shrine

Yūtoku Inari Shrine (祐徳稲荷神社, Yūtokuinari jinja) is a shrine located in Kashima City, Saga Prefecture. It is one of the most famous Inari shrines in Japan.

In real life
Dedicated to Inari, the kami whose messengers are foxes, it is the third largest of its kind in Japan. It was constructed in 1688 as the family shrine of the Nabeshima clan who ruled what would become the Saga area (called Hizen at that time) during the Edo period. It was built to the Inari kami of the harvest by a princess from Kyoto named Manko Hime who married Nabeshima Naotomo. The Nabeshima clan was entrusted with protecting Edo’s interests in Kyūshū, in particular the city of Nagasaki, which was one of the few ports open to foreign contact during Japan’s period of isolation.

The shrine is also popular for new year celebrations and is very crowded during the first two weeks of January.

In the series
The shrine is visited by Franchouchou in the company of White Ryu as part of a television program to revitalize the group. During the middle of the episode, the group accompanies Ryu to the famous places of the shrine and then they climb the mountain where a temple is, although as zombies they do not tire, White Ryu ends up exhausted at the end of the climb.

Trivia

 * At this shrine, it is the first mention of God in the entire series. With later episodes having subtle calls for the existence of God within anime history.

Santuario Yutoku Inari