Experiences
Toyokawa Inari × NAKED YORU MO-DE: One of Japan’s Three Great Inari, Toyokawa Inari × NAKED YORU MO-DE
Toyokawa Inari marks its 580th anniversary with NAKED, INC.’s night-worship light art—designed for distancing and anti-virus measures.
Toyokawa Inari × NAKED YORU MO-DE
Toyokawa Inari
Toyokawa Inari is the popular name for a Buddhist temple of the Sōtō sect located in Toyokawa City in eastern Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The temple’s official name is Myōgon-ji; its full name is Enpukuzan Toyokawa-kaku, Myōgon-ji. Despite the torii gate at the entrance and the common identification of its principal object of worship with Inari Ōkami—the Shinto kami of fertility, rice, agriculture, industry, and worldly success—the institution is a Buddhist temple and has no overt association with Shinto.
Toyokawa Inari × NAKED YORU MO-DE
Shrines and temples have long served as symbolic places where people connect with one another, but due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of worshippers across Japan has decreased by 1.26 million people this year.
Toyokawa Inari is celebrating its 580th anniversary this year. Rather than letting the year pass without commemoration, the temple sought the support of creative company NAKED, INC. Together, they developed an innovative way to enjoy “night worship” through light-based displays that encourage social distancing and anti-virus practices.
The collaboration, titled “Toyokawa Inari × NAKED YORU MO-DE,” is scheduled to begin on 22 July 2021. Toyokawa Inari hopes the event will become a new normal even in the post-COVID era.
New-Style Night Worship at Toyokawa Inari
For this project, NAKED co-created a new style of night worship at Toyokawa Inari using their planned COVID countermeasure art:
- NAKED Tsukubai: hand-sanitizer art—now commonplace—presented as an experience.
- NAKED Distance Lantern: lanterns that help maintain social distance naturally.
- FOX MASK: a mask that can also be used as a splash-prevention measure.
NAKED Tsukubai is an original projection-mapping work featuring Toyokawa’s specialty roses and spray mums that bloom across your palm through alcohol disinfectant.
NAKED Distance Lantern comes in two types:
- A white fox, associated with Dakini, enshrined at Toyokawa Inari
- A rose, a local specialty of Toyokawa City, which boasts Japan’s highest production
In one version, the lantern’s shadow is illuminated on the ground.
The FOX MASK, created in collaboration with the handmade fox specialty shop Ichinen Kitsune in Toyokawa City, is a phosphorescent mask item that glows at night and helps prevent splashing.
In addition, YORU MO-DE includes:
- A special exhibition limited to July
- Participatory nighttime art that lets visitors feel the connection between worshippers and Toyokawa Inari through lantern light and illuminated temple grounds
- With support from local residents, a dedication-lantern yagura art installation that provides light to Toyokawa Inari
NAKED’s new-style night-worship art can be enjoyed safely and with peace of mind during COVID—at shrines and temples, and throughout the surrounding area—together with the people of each region.
Event Information
- Address: 1 Toyokawa-cho, Toyokawa-shi, Aichi
- Dates: From 22 July 2021, and then on the 22nd of every month
- Time: 18:00–23:00
- Last admission: 22:00
Tickets
Advance purchase
- Adults (high school students and above): 800 yen
- Children (junior high school students and below): 500 yen
Same-day purchase
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Adults (high school students and above): 1,000 yen
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Children (junior high school students and below): 600 yen
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Free for preschoolers
Social Media
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Website: https://inari-toyokawa.com/
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yorumo_de/
Map: Japanese Three Great Inari / Toyokawa Inari (Google Maps embed)
