Sapporo-mura Jinja

Quick facts

Address

16-14-3-1 Kita 16-jo Higashi, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Spiritual entities

Ōkuninushi (大国主命)

About this place

Sapporo-mura Jinja stands in Higashi-ku, Sapporo. Its deities are Okunitama, Onamuchi and Sukunahikona. It was founded in 1899, and the record states that at its founding it sought to take the name Sapporo Jinja, but permission was refused because that was the same name as the shrine of the highest imperial rank, so the word for “village” was added. It was consecrated on 1 November 1900, and after the villagers conferred together so that it might be revered as the tutelary shrine of the village, application was made in September 1901 and granted that year. In 1901 Takagi Chōshirō, a landowner of Sapporo village in Sapporo district, Ishikari province, made a donation. Its deities were enshrined from what is now Hokkaido Jingu. It was absorbed into the city of Sapporo on 1 April 1934, moved to its present site in November 1971 under a land readjustment scheme, given its current address under the address system on 28 October 1996, and a new hall was built in August 2007. The annual festival is 30 August. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.

Origin and history

It was founded in 1899, and the record states that at its founding it sought to take the name Sapporo Jinja, but permission was refused because that was the same name as the shrine of the highest imperial rank, so the word for “village” was added.

It was consecrated on 1 November 1900, and after the villagers conferred together so that it might be revered as the tutelary shrine of the village, application was made in September 1901 and granted that year. In 1901 Takagi Chōshirō, a landowner of Sapporo village, made a donation, and the deities were enshrined from what is now Hokkaido Jingu.

It was absorbed into the city of Sapporo in 1934, moved to its present site in 1971 under a land readjustment scheme, given its current address in 1996, and a new hall was built in 2007.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  Denied the name Sapporo Jinja

  At its founding it sought the name Sapporo Jinja, but permission was refused because that was the same name as the shrine of the highest imperial rank, so the word for “village” was added.

  documented history

• Origin

  Deities from what is now Hokkaido Jingu

  Its deities were enshrined from what is now Hokkaido Jingu.

  documented history

• What people do here

  A landowner’s gift and a village’s agreement

  The villagers conferred so that it might be revered as the village’s tutelary shrine, and in 1901 the landowner Takagi Chōshirō made a donation.

  documented history

This shrine’s name is the record of a refusal. At its founding it sought the name Sapporo Jinja, but permission was denied because a shrine of the highest imperial rank already held it, so the word for “village” was added. Several shrines on this list changed their names; this is the only one whose name changed because another shrine had got there first.

That other shrine is today’s Hokkaido Jingu — and the deities here were enshrined from it. The institution that would not let them use the name did give them the gods. Most of Sapporo’s shrines carry a deity from a home province; what this one received came from across town.

The procedure is recorded carefully: founded in 1899, consecrated on 1 November 1900, and then, after the villagers conferred so that it might be revered as the tutelary shrine of the village, an application in September 1901 granted the same year. Conferring, petitioning, being permitted — the passage through an administrative system is itself the shrine’s history.

The land came from a private person: a donation in 1901 by Takagi Chōshirō, a landowner of Sapporo village. Like Miyoshi Jinja’s Kimura Tōkichi and Suwa Jinja’s Ueshima Tadashi, this shrine has a named individual at its beginning.

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Sources

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