By: Alex
At midnight, the trees around a small rural shrine block out the light, making the shrine appear quite dark and giving off a somewhat eerie and spooky atmosphere. Those who are timid might even think, “Could there be a spirit appearing?” Usalica (@usalica), a photographer currently living in Kyoto, Japan, may have been one of them.
While taking pictures of the shrine in the dead of night, I noticed something... unusual.
— UsadaNuu@Photo Book Pre-orders Open (@usalica) July 14, 2020
Upon closer look, I thought it had ears—maybe a cat? But as I was taking the picture, it turned out to be a fox.
A fox standing under the torii gate.
Could it have been a divine messenger???? pic.twitter.com/M56iqznlqa
One day, around 2 a.m., as he passed by a small shrine, he suddenly noticed a dark figure under the stone torii gate. His immediate thought was, “How is this possible? Did I just see something I shouldn’t have?” Still, he mustered up the courage to try and get a better look at what the shadowy figure really was.
The figure was sitting upright in front of the torii gate, clearly showing ears and a tail. He initially thought it was a cat, but upon closer inspection, realized it was actually a fox. Given the local legend that foxes are messengers of the Inari deity, usalica couldn’t help but wonder if the god of Inari was sending him a message through this messenger.
▲ At midnight, a dark figure lurks under the stone torii gate of a small shrine.
Usalica captured the scene and shared it on social media, where it has since garnered 280,000 likes and over 56,000 reposts. Due to the mysterious atmosphere of the photo, netizens could sense the unusual feeling even through the image, prompting comments such as, “I’d pretend not to see anything and leave immediately.” Some even speculated that the fox sitting in the center of the torii gate might actually be the deity of the shrine itself. Others, considering the early morning hour of the photo, had the opposite impression: “The fox seems to be saying it’s already midnight, so you probably shouldn’t go any further.”
▲ “The fox sitting in the center of the torii gate might actually be the deity of the shrine itself!”
▲ “The fox seems to be saying it’s already midnight, so you probably shouldn’t go any further.”
Source: Grapee.jp