Sapporo Suitengu

Quick facts

Address

9-4-6-20 Minami 9-jo Nishi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Spiritual entities

Amenominakanushi (天之御中主神) · Ōkuninushi (大国主命)

About this place

Sapporo Suitengu stands in Chuo-ku, Sapporo. Its deities are Ame-no-Minakanushi, Emperor Antoku, the Taira consort of Emperor Takakura, the Second-Rank Nun Tokiko, Okunitama, Onamuchi and Sukunahikona. In 1884 Mizuno Genshirō, a former retainer of the Kurume domain, received a divided spirit from the head shrine of Suitengu at Kurume in Kyushu and crossed to Hokkaido with it. It was enshrined on the bank of the Kamokamo river in 1885, and in 1888 a hall was built at the present site in Minami 9-jo Nishi 4-chome. In 1952 it joined the Association of Shinto Shrines and became Japan’s thirty-ninth branch shrine. A rite for the hundredth year was held in 1985 and one for the hundred and tenth in 1995. The annual festival is 25 July, with the eve festival on 24 July. No benefit that may be prayed for is stated.

Origin and history

In 1884 Mizuno Genshirō, a former retainer of the Kurume domain, received a divided spirit from the head shrine of Suitengu at Kurume in Kyushu and crossed to Hokkaido with it.

It was enshrined on the bank of the Kamokamo river in 1885, and in 1888 a hall was built at the present site in Minami 9-jo Nishi 4-chome.

In 1952 it joined the Association of Shinto Shrines and became Japan’s thirty-ninth branch shrine. A rite for the hundredth year was held in 1985 and one for the hundred and tenth in 1995.

What it is locally associated with

• Origin

  From the head shrine at Kurume

  In 1884 Mizuno Genshirō, a former retainer of the Kurume domain, received a divided spirit from the head shrine of Suitengu at Kurume in Kyushu and crossed to Hokkaido with it.

  documented history

• Origin

  Japan’s thirty-ninth branch shrine

  In 1952 it joined the Association of Shinto Shrines and became Japan’s thirty-ninth branch shrine.

  documented history

• What people do here

  From the riverbank to the present site

  It was enshrined on the bank of the Kamokamo river in 1885, and a hall was built at the present site in 1888.

  documented history

This shrine names its head shrine. A divided spirit was received from the head shrine of Suitengu at Kurume in Kyushu and carried north — and that Kurume shrine is on this list, in the Fukuoka region, where it calls itself the head shrine of all the Suitengu in Japan. Tokyo’s Suitengu is on this list too, invited to the domain residence in 1818 by Arima Yorinori, ninth lord of Kurume. One head shrine and two branches, all three present here. No other lineage in this corpus reaches three.

This shrine also knows its own number. In 1952 it joined the Association of Shinto Shrines and became Japan’s thirty-ninth branch shrine. Nowhere else on this list does a page state its position in a national series.

The one who carried it was a retainer of a domain that no longer existed: Mizuno Genshirō, formerly of Kurume. In the same city, Kotoni Jinja was begun by farmer-soldiers of the old Watari domain and Soma Jinja by former retainers of Mizusawa in Iwate. Ex-samurai bringing their home province’s god north recurs through this region.

Seven deities are enshrined. Ame-no-Minakanushi, and the three who belong to the end of the Taira — Emperor Antoku, the consort of Emperor Takakura, and the Second-Rank Nun Tokiko. To these are added Okunitama, Onamuchi and Sukunahikona: the same three as Hokkaido Jingu’s colonisation deities. A god brought from Kyushu and the gods of this land’s opening stand in one shrine.

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Sources

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