Inari
Inari Ōkami is the goddess of rice, fertility, tea, and agricultural success—and by descent, finance. She is one of the principle kami of Shintō and is known for sending foxes as messengers. These foxes are often depicted at shrines holding a scroll, the words of the goddess, or a key, which unlocks the warehouses of rice.
The famous Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyōto was founded in 711, but Inari worship certainly predates that. Inari was a popular deity welcomed into Buddhist practice. The Fushimi Inari shrine (Shintō) received imperial patronage while the Tō-ji temple (Buddhist) designated Inari as a resident kami. Inari is sometimes conflated with Benzaiten, the Buddhist goddess of "all of that flows," including water, music, money, and love.
In the Heian era (795-1185), she is represented as female. Inari becomes a male deity later and is generally represented as male by the Edo period (1603-1868).
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