Dragon Painting
Kyakuden Hall displays a large black-and-white painting of a dragon in flight. The work is entitled “Dragon among the Clouds.” It was created by celebrated artist Insho Domoto (1891–1975) and donated to the shrine in 1950. When the shrine was located in Kyoto, the work was displayed on the ceiling. After the shrine was relocated to Ohara in 2012, however, the new ceilings proved too low to accommodate the painting.
Therefore, it now covers nearly an entire wall of the hall. Measuring approximately 2.5 meters high and five meters across, it is painted on paper across three connected panels.
Domoto painted several hundred similar works for other temples and shrines throughout Japan, including the vivid “Blue Dragon” that adorns the ceiling of a hall in Kyoto’s Tofuku-ji Temple.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), the powerful warlord who unified Japan in 1590, invited Emperor Go-Yozei (1571–1617) to pray with him at Shusse Inari Shrine in 1587. According to lore, the emperor declared that the shrine would henceforth be known as Shusse Inari Shrine. Shusse, meaning “promotion,” was a reflection of Hideyoshi’s rise from peasant farmer to powerful politician. To this day, the shrine remains associated with success. Worshippers come to pay their respects and seek good fortune in their business and personal lives.