village

In between climbing mountains for the #100Summits project, I’m also visiting sites of cultural and historical significance across Japan. Yesterday, my husband and I hopped a shinkansen (bullet train) to Fukushima Prefecture–a little less than 250 kilometers–to visit one of Japan’s most unusual sanctuary/zoos: Zao Fox Village. As the name suggests, the park is a combination zoo and sanctuary for foxes (known as “kitsune” in Japan). Among Japan’s most honored creatures, kitsune are considered messengers of Inari Okami, one of the most important deities in the Shintō pantheon.