Okadama Jinja
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In short
Grew out of an Ise confraternity formed by settlers in 1870; a small shrine was raised twelve years later, on 16 September 1882.
Quick facts
- Address
- 183 Okadama-cho, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
- Spiritual entities
- Amaterasu Ōmikami (天照大御神)
About this place
Okadama Jinja stands in Higashi-ku, Sapporo. Its deity is Amaterasu. It is said to begin from an Ise confraternity formed by settlers in 1870, from which a small shrine was raised on 16 September 1882. In October 1892 it was styled Okadama Jinja. It was raised to village-shrine rank in January 1928 and received religious-corporation status in March 1953. The rebuilding of the hall, which stands today, was completed in August 1968. The annual festival is 16 September, with the eve festival on 15 September, and the Okadama lion dance is offered on the day of the festival. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.
Origin and history
It is said to begin from an Ise confraternity formed by settlers in 1870, from which a small shrine was raised on 16 September 1882.
In October 1892 it was styled Okadama Jinja. It was raised to village-shrine rank in January 1928 and received religious-corporation status in March 1953.
The rebuilding of the hall, which stands today, was completed in August 1968.
What it is locally associated with
An Ise confraternity at the start
It is said to begin from an Ise confraternity formed by settlers in 1870, from which a small shrine was raised on 16 September 1882.
folk traditionNamed in 1892
In October 1892 it was styled Okadama Jinja, and in January 1928 it was raised to village-shrine rank.
documented historyThe Okadama lion dance
The Okadama lion dance is offered on 16 September, the day of the annual festival.
documented history
What stands at the start of this shrine is not a building but a gathering. It is said to begin from an Ise confraternity formed by settlers in 1870, from which a small shrine was raised on 16 September 1882 — the association came first, and the shrine is what it built over the following twelve years.
Sapporo’s shrines have so far divided into gods carried from a home province and gods chosen in the new place. Kotoni Jinja carried the founder of an old domain; Shinkotoni Jinja chose Amaterasu and others. This is neither: a group of people who pooled themselves to worship at Ise existed first, and a shrine grew out of it.
The name came last as well. It was styled Okadama Jinja in October 1892; until then it was a small shrine raised by a confraternity. This list holds shrines that changed their names and one that was refused the name it wanted — this is the one that waited a decade to have a name at all.
The Okadama lion dance is offered at the annual festival; the page gives even the hours, 11:30 and 15:30 on 16 September. The page names no benefit, so this page carries no tag for what may be prayed for.
Claims and evidence levels 2
- The shrine is said to begin from an Ise confraternity formed by settlers in 1870, with a small shrine raised in 1882. folk tradition
- It was styled Okadama Jinja in October 1892 and raised to village-shrine rank in 1928. documented history
Related guides
- How to visit a shrine or temple in JapanThe country-wide basics: purifying at the water basin, the two-bows-two-claps-one-bow form at shrines, and what temples do instead.
- What a "power spot" actually isA modern Japanese coinage, not a traditional religious category. Where the word came from, what it does and does not claim, and why this site uses it anyway.
- Shrine or temple?A shrine is Shinto and a temple is Buddhist, and you can usually tell at the gate. Why the line is cleaner on paper than on the ground, and what a government order in 1868 has to do with it.
- Omamori, ema, omikuji and goshuinThe four things you are most likely to receive, write, draw or be given at a shrine or temple, what each is actually for, and the one of them people most often get wrong.
Sources
- 丘珠神社 — 北海道神社庁札幌支部 (accessed 2026-08-16)
Last updated:
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