Maho Shrineまほうじんじゃ

A local guardian whose tanuki shapeshifter lore was deified at sites such as the Mahō Shrine in Kari, Sōja City, and the Hinokaminari Shrine and Amatsu Shrine in Kibichūō. The name has no relation to Western magic, with a noted theory of corruption from Marishiten. Some local accounts place its arrival in the late Muromachi period. Worship centers on keeping cattle and horses healthy and on protection from fire and theft. On temple fair days, people would visit leading their cattle and horses, and tales speak of a tanuki’s passage hole and offerings of fried tofu. Hallmarks of tanuki lore appear—shapeshifting, omens, and money glamour that makes leaves seem like gold—yet it ultimately came to be enshrined as the village’s tutelary deity.