I got this tattoo when I was in Japan, from a shop in Nagoya. There was a small Inari shrine a few blocks from where I lived in Gifu-shi 岐阜市. Inari's messengers are the kitsune (or foxes) that you see at her shrines. They deliver your prayers to her. I would go jogging late at night, after I got off work (sometimes as late as 2AM) which is perfectly safe where I lived. After I finished, I would go and pray to Inari, asking for the stamina to be someone amazing, like I knew I could be, and also thanking her for the blessings I already had, like good health and the chance to live in such an amazing place. I would sometimes leave her an offering as well. I am not a religious person, but I am very spiritual and I find religions to be philosophically fascinating. This was a very magical place for me, and it definitely inspired this tattoo.
I also had the opportunity to go to Fushimi Inari-taisha 伏見稲荷大社 in Kyoto, and that was a very special place as well. There are thousands of torii gates (the red gate in my tattoo) that lead up to the top of the mountain. These torii gates are portals to the spiritual realm, and allow people to speak to the gods if they walk through them. I climbed to the top of that mountain and prayed there. As a side note, one of my favorite Japanese foods is also called Inari, and it is a sweet fermented tofu skin wrapped around a rice ball. It is said to be the favorite food of the Goddess Inari.
I plan on getting tattoos like these from each country that I live in; circles of various sizes that run up and down my spine. I think it will take a lot of time before it's completed however.
