Hanaoka Jinja

Quick facts

Address

2-5-3-1 Misumai, Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Spiritual entities

Hachiman (八幡神) · Ōkuninushi (大国主命)

About this place

Hanaoka Jinja stands in Misumai, Minami-ku, Sapporo. Its deities are Onamuchi, Emperor Ojin and Oyamatsumi. Founding is given as September 1882. The residents of the Misumai district were devout toward the gods and their forebears from the time of settlement, and it seems there were small shrines in each of the little hamlets, the shrine writes. According to a report by Sakurai Tsuguhisa, a former vice-chair of the Misumai federated neighbourhood association, a Hachiman Jinja was built on 15 September 1882. At that time the Kuroiwa Seigoro household was the only one living in Misumai, and they probably received a guardian deity from their home province of Fukuoka, built a small shrine and made it their protector — so the shrine writes. The section on the young men’s association in the local history Misumai Enkakushi-ko reads, “In the 1890s the young men looked after the shrine, collected the festival expenses from each house and held the festival,” from which, the shrine says, it may be taken that the shrine was already being worshipped alongside the settlement. It was granted rank by permission of the Home Minister dated 15 March 1915, and received the approval of the Association of Shinto Shrines on 1 August 1946. The present hall was built in 1968. The annual festival is 15 September. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.

Origin and history

Founding is given as September 1882. The residents of the Misumai district were devout toward the gods and their forebears from the time of settlement, and it seems there were small shrines in each of the little hamlets, the shrine writes.

According to a report by Sakurai Tsuguhisa, a former vice-chair of the Misumai federated neighbourhood association, a Hachiman Jinja was built on 15 September 1882. At that time the Kuroiwa Seigoro household was the only one living in Misumai, and they probably received a guardian deity from their home province of Fukuoka, built a small shrine and made it their protector — so the shrine writes.

The section on the young men’s association in the local history Misumai Enkakushi-ko reads, “In the 1890s the young men looked after the shrine, collected the festival expenses from each house and held the festival,” from which, the shrine says, it may be taken that the shrine was already being worshipped alongside the settlement.

It was granted rank by permission of the Home Minister dated 15 March 1915, and received the approval of the Association of Shinto Shrines on 1 August 1946. The present hall was built in 1968.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A record written as inference

  It seems there were small shrines; they probably received a guardian deity and made it their protector — the shrine sets down its own beginning in the language of a guess.

  documented history

• Origin

  A single household in Misumai

  At the founding, the record says, the Kuroiwa Seigoro household was the only one living in Misumai.

  documented history

• What people do here

  The young men’s festival

  Misumai Enkakushi-ko records, “In the 1890s the young men looked after the shrine, collected the festival expenses from each house and held the festival.”

  documented history

This shrine’s record does not assert its own beginning. It seems there were small shrines, it writes; they probably received a guardian deity and made it their protector. Most entries on this list state a founding year and a source shrine outright. This one uses the language of inference twice.

What it offers instead is citation. The date and the old name are credited to a report by Sakurai Tsuguhisa, a former vice-chair of the Misumai federated neighbourhood association; for the young men’s festivals it quotes the local history Misumai Enkakushi-ko directly — “In the 1890s the young men looked after the shrine, collected the festival expenses from each house and held the festival.” Where the account came from is set down beside the account.

At the founding, the record says, the Kuroiwa Seigoro household was the only one living in Misumai. A shrine raised on the ground of a single house. Ashiribetsu Jinja in the same city began from one man’s morning and evening worship; for smallness it stands beside the shrine of less than one tsubo at Mizuho Jinja.

The god’s origin is written down too: probably from their home province of Fukuoka — the region this site also covers. Shrines in Sapporo that begin with a carried god are common; ones that name the province it was carried from are not.

The name changed as well. First Hachiman Jinja, now Hanaoka Jinja. The year of the change is not recorded.

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Sources

1. 花岡神社 — 北海道神社庁札幌支部 (accessed 2026-08-16)