Inari Ōkami , also called Ō-Inari (大稲荷), is the Japanese kami of foxes, fertility, rice, tea and sake, agriculture and industry, and general prosperity and worldly success, and is one of the principal kami of Shinto. In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. Alternatingly-represented as male &/or female, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami. Inari appears to have been worshipped since the founding of a shrine at Inari Mountain in 711 AD, although some scholars believe that worship started in the late 5th century.

Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, beings and the qualities that these beings express, and/or the spirits of venerated dead people. Many kami are considered the ancient ancestors of entire clans. Traditionally, great leaders like the Emperor could be or became kami.