Shiroishi Jinja

Shrine · Sapporo

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In short

Begins with the hall that Sapporo Jinja left behind when it moved to Maruyama, taken down and re-erected here.

The hall of Shiroishi Jinja in Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo. — Ozizo / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Quick facts

Address: 14-kita 1-12 Hondori, Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

About this place

Shiroishi Jinja stands in Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo. Its deity is Kamuyamato Iwarebiko, that is Emperor Jimmu. The shrine relates that in the third month of 1872 plot one hundred in Shiroishi village was fixed as the shrine’s ground; that after Sapporo Jinja moved to Maruyama its former hall was taken down and re-erected here to serve as the hall; and that Iwamura Michitoshi of the Colonisation Commission received a divided spirit from Kashihara Jingu, made it the guardian deity of Shiroishi village, and appointed his subordinate Takahashi Wataru to serve it. The annual festival is 11 September, with the eve festival on 10 September. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.

Origin and history

The shrine relates that in the third month of 1872 plot one hundred in Shiroishi village was fixed as the shrine’s ground.

After Sapporo Jinja moved to Maruyama, its former hall was taken down and re-erected here to serve as the hall.

The shrine records that Iwamura Michitoshi of the Colonisation Commission received a divided spirit from Kashihara Jingu, made it the guardian deity of Shiroishi village, and appointed his subordinate Takahashi Wataru to serve it.

What it is locally associated with

Origin
Sapporo Jinja’s former hall, re-erected
The shrine relates that after Sapporo Jinja moved to Maruyama, its former hall was taken down and re-erected here to serve as the hall.
folk tradition
Origin
Guardian deity of Shiroishi village
The shrine records that Iwamura Michitoshi of the Colonisation Commission received a divided spirit, made it the village’s guardian deity, and appointed Takahashi Wataru to serve it.
folk tradition
What people do here
Ground fixed in 1872
The shrine relates that in the third month of 1872 plot one hundred in Shiroishi village was fixed as its ground.
folk tradition

This shrine’s building came from somewhere else. After Sapporo Jinja moved to Maruyama, its former hall was taken down and re-erected here — and Sapporo Jinja is today’s Hokkaido Jingu, which has its own page on this list. When that shrine moved to Maruyama in the ninth month of 1871, the building it vacated was carried here. Sapporo has many shrines whose gods were brought in; this is the only one where the hall itself was.

So the list of things carried into this city now includes a building. Hokkaido Jingu’s spirit-tokens came by ship and on a man’s back, Miyoshi Jinja’s divided spirit from Akita, Toyohira Jinja’s guardian from Aomori, Sapporo Fushimi Inari’s from Kyoto. What this one received was the hall Hokkaido Jingu had finished with.

The deity enshrined is Emperor Jimmu. In the same city, Shinkotoni Jinja’s farmer-soldier company also chose Emperor Jimmu. Neither god was carried from a home province; both were chosen in the new place, which sets these two apart from the rest.

The names of those who performed the enshrinement survive: Iwamura Michitoshi of the Colonisation Commission received the divided spirit, and his subordinate Takahashi Wataru was appointed to serve it. Recording both office and full name is the same habit seen with Miyoshi Jinja’s Kimura Tōkichi and Suwa Jinja’s Ueshima Tadashi.

Claims and evidence levels 2

The shrine relates that its hall is the one Sapporo Jinja vacated when it moved to Maruyama, taken down and re-erected here. folk tradition
It records that Iwamura Michitoshi of the Colonisation Commission established its deity as the guardian of Shiroishi village. folk tradition

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