Tradition and modernity, small shrine surrounded by skyscrapers

Spread throughout the entire country, the Inari Shinto shrines are, through their distinguishable vermilion torii gates, a common part of the Japanese landscape. Inari is one of the most popular Japanese deities, the kami of fertility, prosperity, success, rice, tea, sake and agriculture, and the shrines dedicated to Inari account for more than a third of all the active Shinto shrines.

And besides them, there's a huge number of small shrines, without a full-time priest. Many of them are little architectural jewels, erected on the side of the roads, inside Buddhist temples or next to residential areas. Even the modern urban areas are featuring them, as you can see in this photo taken in Yurakucho, Tokyo, with such a shrine carefully integrated between the skyscrapers...