Iyahiko Jinja

Quick facts

Address

1-8 Nakajima-koen, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Spiritual entities

Tenjin (天神, Sugawara no Michizane)

About this place

Iyahiko Jinja stands in Nakajima Park, Chuo-ku, Sapporo. Its deities are Ame-no-Kaguyama and Sugawara no Michizane. In the first month of 1912 a divided spirit of Yahiko Jinja, the first shrine of Echigo province, was enshrined here. It was raised to village-shrine rank in August 1922 and to district rank in 1938. In July 1970 a divided spirit was received from Dazaifu Tenmangu and added to the deities. For the 75th anniversary in July 1986 the hall was rebuilt, the shrine office renovated and the great gate repaired; for the enthronement of the Heisei era and the 80th anniversary the purification pavilion and approach were repaired. For the 90th anniversary in 2001 the portable-shrine procession was held for the first time in sixty years. The annual festival is 27 July, with the eve festival on 26 July. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.

Origin and history

In the first month of 1912 a divided spirit of Yahiko Jinja, the first shrine of Echigo province, was enshrined here. It was raised to village-shrine rank in August 1922 and to district rank in 1938.

In July 1970 a divided spirit was received from Dazaifu Tenmangu and added to the deities.

For the 75th anniversary in July 1986 the hall was rebuilt, the shrine office renovated and the great gate repaired; for the enthronement of the Heisei era and the 80th anniversary the purification pavilion and approach were repaired. For the 90th anniversary in 2001 the portable-shrine procession was held for the first time in sixty years.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  A divided spirit from Echigo

  In the first month of 1912 a divided spirit of Yahiko Jinja, the first shrine of Echigo province, was enshrined here.

  documented history

• Origin

  A second from Dazaifu Tenmangu

  In July 1970 a divided spirit was received from Dazaifu Tenmangu and added to the deities.

  documented history

• What people do here

  A procession after sixty years

  For the 90th anniversary in 2001 the portable-shrine procession was held for the first time in sixty years.

  documented history

This shrine has two parents. A divided spirit of Yahiko Jinja, first shrine of Echigo, was enshrined in 1912, and fifty-eight years later, in 1970, another was received from Dazaifu Tenmangu and added. Sapporo’s shrines characteristically carry a god from the home province; nowhere else on this list does one finish carrying and then send for a second deity from a different place entirely.

And the second parent is on this list. Dazaifu Tenmangu has its own page in the Fukuoka region — the shrine built over the grave of Sugawara no Michizane. The origins of gods brought into Sapporo have run Miyagi, Akita, Aomori, Kyoto and Shinano; here for the first time the pedigree points at another region of this site.

There are two deities. Ame-no-Kaguyama came from Echigo, Sugawara no Michizane from Chikuzen. One shrine holding gods that arrived in different centuries from opposite directions.

The portable-shrine procession has been interrupted once. It was held for the 90th anniversary in 2001, the first time in sixty years. Sapporo Miyoshi Jinja likewise revived its procession in 1985 after forty-six years, so two shrines here record a break and a resumption.

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

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