Shinkotoni Jinja
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In short
Begins in 1887 when a company of army farmer-soldiers, newly settled, read the ground and chose a pure site where a clear spring rose, answering to the four guardian gods.
Quick facts
- Address
- 8-3-1-6 Shinkotoni, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
- Spiritual entities
- Amaterasu Ōmikami (天照大御神)
About this place
Shinkotoni Jinja stands in Kita-ku, Sapporo. Its deities are Amaterasu, Toyouke and Emperor Jimmu. On 20 May 1887 the third company of the first infantry battalion of the army’s farmer-soldiers settled at Shinkotoni, north of the Colonisation Commission’s Sapporo headquarters. Soon after arriving they read the ground east of the company headquarters — now a designated cultural property of the city of Sapporo — and chose as the shrine’s site a pure place where a clear spring rose, answering to the four guardian gods. There, on a small scale, a shrine was raised enshrining Amaterasu, Toyouke and Emperor Jimmu as guardians of the settlement, and that is the founding of Shinkotoni Jinja. A transfer rite followed in 1906, the hall was built in 1913, foundation was permitted in 1917, and village-shrine rank came in 1925; religious-corporation status followed in 1953, main-hall transfer rites in 1965 and 2006, and a grand festival for the 130th year of enshrinement in 2017. The annual festival is 20 May. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.
Origin and history
On 20 May 1887 the third company of the first infantry battalion of the army’s farmer-soldiers settled at Shinkotoni, north of the Colonisation Commission’s Sapporo headquarters.
Soon after arriving they read the ground east of the company headquarters and chose as the shrine’s site a pure place where a clear spring rose, answering to the four guardian gods. There, on a small scale, a shrine was raised enshrining Amaterasu, Toyouke and Emperor Jimmu as guardians of the settlement, and that is the founding of Shinkotoni Jinja.
A transfer rite followed in 1906, the hall was built in 1913, foundation was permitted in 1917, and village-shrine rank came in 1925; religious-corporation status followed in 1953, main-hall transfer rites in 1965 and 2006, and a grand festival for the 130th year of enshrinement in 2017.
What it is locally associated with
A site answering to the four guardian gods
Soon after arriving they read the ground east of the company headquarters and chose a pure place where a clear spring rose, answering to the four guardian gods.
documented historyA farmer-soldier company, 1887
On 20 May 1887 the third company of the first infantry battalion of the army’s farmer-soldiers settled at Shinkotoni.
documented historyA hundred and thirty years
Foundation was permitted in 1917 and village rank came in 1925; a grand festival for the 130th year of enshrinement was held in 2017.
documented history
This shrine’s site was chosen by geomancy. They read the ground and settled on a pure place where a clear spring rose, answering to the four guardian gods — the same scheme by which Heian-kyō was laid out, used here in 1887 by a company of farmer-soldiers who had just arrived. It is the only place on this list where that principle is invoked.
This is Sapporo’s second farmer-soldier shrine. Kotoni Jinja was founded in 1875 by the first 240 households, who made the founder of their old domain a god. This one was founded in 1887 by the third company of the first infantry battalion. Same institution, different choice: Kotoni brought a lord from home, Shinkotoni took Amaterasu, Toyouke and Emperor Jimmu. A god carried, against a god chosen.
The company headquarters still stands and is a designated cultural property of the city. The shrine’s position is recorded relative to it — east of the building. The record of siting a god by reference to a barracks survives intact.
The chronology runs long: a transfer rite in 1906, the hall in 1913, permission in 1917, village rank in 1925, corporation status in 1953, and a festival for the 130th year in 2017. A hundred and thirty years of dates, starting from one small shrine.
Claims and evidence levels 2
- The shrine’s site was chosen as a pure place where a clear spring rose, answering to the four guardian gods, east of the farmer-soldier company headquarters. documented history
- It was founded in 1887 by the third company of the first infantry battalion of the army’s farmer-soldiers. 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
- 新琴似神社 — 北海道神社庁札幌支部 (accessed 2026-08-16)
Last updated:
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