Once in a while I post something about my martial arts' friends; this picture is one such case since it's one of the very few times, I've seen a temple or an altar dedicated to Marishiten (摩利支天) in Tokyo, and not for a lack of trying. Marishiten has a special relationship to the martial arts and is considered a patron of several classic schools, those collectively called "koryu" (古流). This altar is in the temple Toyokawa Inari (豊川稲荷) in Akasaka (赤坂) which is a branch of a famous temple with the same name in a city also called Toyokawa in Aichi Prefecture (Aichi as in "Nagoya"). The particular temple, both in Toyokawa and here, is one more example of the syncretism you often see in Japan when it comes to religion: it belongs to the Soto (曹洞宗) sect of Zen Buddhism but worships the deity Toyokawa Dakini Shinden (豊川吒枳尼真天) which is related to the rice deity Inari. Marishiten's altar is one of the many hosted on the temple's grounds.
(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr).
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