Maruyama-nishimachi Jinja

Quick facts

Address

6-518-6 Maruyama-nishimachi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Spiritual entities

Ōkuninushi (大国主命)

About this place

Maruyama-nishimachi Jinja stands in Chuo-ku, Sapporo. Its deities are Oyamatsumi, Okunitama, Onamuchi and Sukunahikona. In September 1895 people who had settled here enshrined Oyamatsumi on land behind the house of Satō Gorōta in the Takinosawa district, and this is its founding. In September 1931, 853.9 tsubo owned by Ueda Zenshichi, head of the Takinosawa district, was donated to the district as shrine land, and in March 1937 the shrine moved to its present site. In September 1951 it received the transfer of the shrine hall that had stood on the roof of the head office of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, making it this shrine’s hall, and at the same time received and enshrined a divided spirit of Sapporo Jinja, now Hokkaido Jingu. In 1972, having been called Takinosawa Jinja after the district of that name, it changed its title to Maruyama-nishimachi Jinja following the change of place name. It became a religious corporation on 8 September 1989. The annual festival is 14 September. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.

Origin and history

In September 1895 people who had settled here enshrined Oyamatsumi on land behind the house of Satō Gorōta in the Takinosawa district, and this is its founding.

In September 1931, 853.9 tsubo owned by Ueda Zenshichi, head of the Takinosawa district, was donated to the district as shrine land, and in March 1937 the shrine moved to its present site.

In September 1951 it received the transfer of the shrine hall that had stood on the roof of the head office of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, making it this shrine’s hall, and at the same time received a divided spirit of Sapporo Jinja, now Hokkaido Jingu. In 1972 it changed its title to Maruyama-nishimachi Jinja following the change of place name, and became a religious corporation on 8 September 1989.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A hall from a bank rooftop

  In September 1951 it received the transfer of the shrine hall that had stood on the roof of the head office of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, making it this shrine’s hall.

  documented history

• Origin

  Founded behind a house

  In September 1895 settlers enshrined Oyamatsumi on land behind the house of Satō Gorōta in the Takinosawa district.

  documented history

• What people do here

  The place name changed, and so did the shrine’s

  Called Takinosawa Jinja after the district, it changed its title to Maruyama-nishimachi Jinja in 1972 when the place name changed.

  documented history

This shrine’s hall came down off a bank roof. In September 1951 it received the transfer of the shrine hall that had stood on the roof of the head office of the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, and made it its own — a rooftop shrine on an office building became the hall of a neighbourhood shrine. Nothing else on this list is housed in a building that came off a roof.

Sapporo holds one other shrine living in someone else’s building. Shiroishi Jinja re-erected the hall that Sapporo Jinja left behind when it moved to Maruyama. One received a shrine’s discard, the other a bank’s; the shape is the same and only the source differs.

In that same year of 1951 it also received a divided spirit of Sapporo Jinja, now Hokkaido Jingu. That makes four pages in this region drawing from that shrine: Sapporo-mura Jinja took three deities, Naebo Jinja Sukunahikona, Shiroishi Jinja the old hall, and this one a divided spirit and a rooftop hall at once.

It began behind somebody’s house. In September 1895 settlers enshrined Oyamatsumi on land behind the house of Satō Gorōta. Ashiribetsu Jinja in the same city likewise begins with Nagaoka Shigeharu’s small shrine in a corner of his cleared land. Two shrines in this region start at the edge of private ground.

The name followed the map. It was Takinosawa Jinja after the district; in 1972, when the place name changed, the shrine’s title changed with it.

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Sources

1. 円山西町神社 — 北海道神社庁札幌支部 (accessed 2026-08-16)