History

The shrine’s origin is unclear, but one old text suggests it may have been built in 951 close to its current location. The shrine’s powers were attested to in 1066 when prayers offered there helped bring an end to the great Kantō drought of that year. The next mention is not until 1729, when the eighth Tokugawa Shōgun, Yoshimune, instructed one of his Council of Elders (rōjū), Mizuno Tadayuki, to build a new shrine hall on what is still the location of the shrine. On April 26 of the following year the ceremonial transfer of the deity from the original shrine took place, and two days later the Shōgun visited to pay his respects. Along with this the shrine was granted a shogunate trading license worth some 200 koku per year.

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This was renewed by each succeeding Shogun until the 14th of the line, Iemochi . Even after the passing of the Tokugawa the shrine continued to prosper. In the early years of the Meiji Restoration it was given the ranking of prefectural shrine (fusha) and in 1898 four nearby Inari shrines were merged and became the Shiwase Inari Jinja, one of the three in-ground shrines. In 1925 a further two Inari Jinja were merged and one more was added in 1934, now the Inari Jinja Sansha.