Hassamu Jinja

Quick facts

Address

11-3-1-33 Hassamu, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Spiritual entities

Inari (稲荷大神)

About this place

Hassamu Jinja stands in Nishi-ku, Sapporo. Its deities are Toyouke and Ukanomitama. In 1856, bearing shogunal orders for the development of Ezo, Yamaoka Seijirō and sixteen others settled here, founded an Inari shrine, kept its rites diligently, and opened the ground of settlement in the north. When thirty-two households settled here in 1875 as the first wave of Hokkaido’s farmer-soldiers the shrine’s fortunes rose further; in December 1898 a divided spirit of Toyouke was received from the Grand Shrine of Ise, revered as its ancestral origin, and in March 1899 it was entered in the shrine register. In January 1903 it was renamed from Hassamu village Inari Shrine to Hassamu Jinja, with the approval of the governor of Hokkaido. The annual festival is 15 September, with an eve festival on 14 September and a following rite on 16 September. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.

Origin and history

In 1856, bearing shogunal orders for the development of Ezo, Yamaoka Seijirō and sixteen others settled here, founded an Inari shrine, kept its rites diligently, and opened the ground of settlement in the north.

When thirty-two households settled here in 1875 as the first wave of Hokkaido’s farmer-soldiers the shrine’s fortunes rose further; in December 1898 a divided spirit of Toyouke was received from the Grand Shrine of Ise, and in March 1899 it was entered in the shrine register.

In January 1903 it was renamed from Hassamu village Inari Shrine to Hassamu Jinja, with the approval of the governor of Hokkaido.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  Seventeen men under shogunal orders

  In 1856, bearing shogunal orders for the development of Ezo, Yamaoka Seijirō and sixteen others settled here and founded an Inari shrine.

  documented history

• Origin

  A divided spirit from Ise

  In December 1898 a divided spirit of Toyouke was received from the Grand Shrine of Ise, revered as its ancestral origin.

  documented history

• What people do here

  From Inari Shrine to Hassamu Jinja

  In January 1903 it was renamed from Hassamu village Inari Shrine to Hassamu Jinja, with the approval of the governor of Hokkaido.

  documented history

This shrine begins with an order from the shogunate. In 1856, bearing shogunal orders for the development of Ezo, Yamaoka Seijirō and sixteen others settled here and founded an Inari shrine — the number who came is recorded, and it is seventeen.

Sapporo has more than one shrine from the closing years of the shogunate. Shinoro Jinja was founded in 1855 under the shogunate’s resident-settler system; this one follows in 1856 under a direct order. Two shrines a year apart, both arising where the shogunate placed people. The Sapporo pages on this list are largely a Meiji story, but a thin earlier layer lies beneath it.

This shrine writes about the farmer-soldiers too: when thirty-two households settled here in 1875 as the first wave, its fortunes rose further. Of that same year, Kotoni Jinja records that 240 households settled there as the Colonisation Commission’s first farmer-soldiers. This page does not decide which came first; it records that each shrine says what it says.

The deities grew. In December 1898 a divided spirit of Toyouke was received from the Grand Shrine of Ise, revered as its ancestral origin. The name changed too: in January 1903, from Hassamu village Inari Shrine to Hassamu Jinja. A shrine that began as an Inari hall took in a deity of Ise and altered its name.

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Sources

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