To further add to the rarity, the zushi has a removable inner cover that protects the Inari. Its outer frame has a number of Buddhist and Shinto symbols including a Daikoku Hammer. The frame is curved to fit into the gold painted zushi case and has a small glass window through which the Inari can be viewed. The front of the zushi case has an elaborate metal decoration along the front opening and a hinged clasp that looks like a Taotai mask.

The entire piece measures 5 ½” wide when the doors are open and is 2 ½” wide with the doors closed – it is 3 7/8” high and 2 ¼” deep. It is in excellent condition – there are some rubs to the gold paint on the outside of the case – a couple of nicks to the inner protective casing on the red painted back – and the looseness of the ears of corn that causes them to rotate.

We have seem – and/or owned – scores of zushi over our years of collecting. This is easily one of the finest and most unusual we have come across. We date it to the late Edo to middle Meiji period, circa 1860-1880s.

Inari is the Japanese kami of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry and worldly success and one of the principal kami of Shinto. Inari is a popular figure in both Shinto and Buddhist beliefs in Japan. 32,000 shrines — more than one-third of Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicate to Inari. Inari has been depicted both as male and as female. The most popular representations of Inari are a young female food goddess. Inari's foxes, or kitsune, act as his/her messengers. Because of this close association with kitsune, Inari is often believed to be the "Fox God"; however, although this belief is widespread, both Shinto and Buddhist priests discourage it.

Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox. Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit. This role has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance. Originally, kitsune were Inari's messengers, but the line between the two is now blurred so that Inari himself may be depicted as a fox. Likewise, entire shrines are dedicated to kitsune, where devotees can leave offerings. Inari's kitsune are usually white, a color of good omen. They possess the power to ward off evil, and they sometimes serve as guardian spirits. In addition to protecting Inari shrines, they are petitioned to intervene on behalf of the locals and particularly to aid against troublesome nogitsune, those spirit foxes that do not serve Inari. Black foxes and nine-tailed foxes are likewise considered good omens.