Samukawa Shrine is located in Miyayama, Samukawa Town, Koza District, Kanagawa Prefecture. It is known as the Ichinomiya, or highest-ranking shrine, of the former Sagami Province. The shrine is listed in the Engishiki as a Myojin Taisha, a major shrine of exceptional importance, and formerly held the official rank of a National Government Shrine of the Middle Grade. Today, it is listed as a special shrine under the Association of Shinto Shrines and attracts approximately two million visitors each year.
Samukawa Shrine is particularly renowned for Happo-yoke, a form of spiritual protection against misfortune and obstacles arising from all eight directions. It is one of the most widely revered shrines in the Kanto region.
The exact date of Samukawa Shrine’s foundation is unknown, but its origins are believed to reach back to an extremely ancient period. During the reign of Emperor Yuryaku, the imperial court had already ordered offerings to be made to the shrine. In 927, the shrine was recorded in the Engishiki Jinmyocho, a register of shrines compiled during the Engi era. It was ranked as a Myojin Taisha and was the only shrine in Sagami Province classified as a major state shrine eligible to participate in the imperial Myojin Festival.
Since its foundation, Samukawa Shrine has been worshipped as a guardian deity providing protection from misfortune in all directions.
Samukawa Shrine is located in the central-southern part of present-day Kanagawa Prefecture, an area where the waters of Sagami Bay are believed to have extended much farther inland during the Yayoi period. When the shrine was established, approximately between the 6th and 8th centuries, sea levels were higher, and the site is thought to have faced Sagami Bay directly.
The origins of worship at the site may go back even further, possibly to the Jomon or Kofun periods. Nearby is the Okada Site, one of Japan’s largest Jomon archaeological sites.
As a shrine devoted to Happo-yoke, Samukawa Shrine receives particularly large numbers of visitors at the beginning of each year. Approximately 500,000 people visit during the first three days of January alone to make their first shrine visit of the year.
At midnight on New Year’s Day, the Happo-yoke Festival and New Year’s Day Prayer Ceremony begin with the sound of a large Japanese drum. In recent years, the first illumination of the shrine’s New Year Nebuta lantern float has also become part of the celebrations.
The shrine is also known as a place visited by many prominent people. The actor Ken Takakura, for example, was famous for visiting Samukawa Shrine between filming sessions for movies and television dramas.
In addition to its religious activities, the religious corporation that operates the shrine also runs Samukawa Hospital and the elderly care facility Shinkei-en, contributing to the local community.
The two principal deities currently enshrined at Samukawa Shrine are collectively known as Samukawa Daimyojin:
Samukawahiko-no-Mikoto
Samukawahime-no-Mikoto
These deities do not appear in Japan’s classical chronicles, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, so their origins and detailed identities remain unclear. One theory holds that Samukawahiko-no-Mikoto and Samukawahime-no-Mikoto are children of Oominakami-no-Kami.
Oominakami-no-Kami is also enshrined at Muneno Shrine, a subsidiary shrine of Ise Jingu. The deity is sometimes identified with Oyama-tsumi-no-Kami, although the details of this connection are also uncertain.
Various other theories about the shrine’s principal deity have been recorded in historical and religious sources. These include Sagawa Daimyojin, mentioned in Volume 12 of the Azuma Kagami; Hachiman-shin or Hachiman Daibosatsu, recorded in works such as the Shokoku Ichinomiya Jinmyocho; Kukurihime-no-Mikoto in the Sokoku Fudoki; Sawame-no-Kami in the Jinmyocho Kosho and Jinmyocho Chushaku; Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Inadahime-no-Mikoto in the Kyu Shintoki; and Onamuchi-no-Mikoto in the Ichinomiya Junkeiki.
The main shrine buildings and worship hall stand beyond the Shinmon gate. The traditional approach begins at the First Torii Gate, located approximately one kilometer south of the shrine grounds near a railway crossing on the JR Sagami Line.
Continuing north along the approach, visitors pass the Second Torii Gate, a large torii, before reaching the Third Torii Gate at the entrance to the shrine precincts. This sequence of gates marks the progression toward the sacred inner grounds.
Since 2001, a large New Year Nebuta display based on Japanese mythology has been installed at the Shinmon gate. It is displayed from the beginning of the New Year until Setsubun, the traditional day marking the change of seasons in early February, and is illuminated at night.
Until 2012, the display featured the animal of the Chinese zodiac for that year. After the zodiac cycle had completed its full rotation, the shrine began presenting Nebuta floats based on Japanese myths in 2013.
Behind the main shrine buildings lies Kantakeyama Shin-en, a traditional Japanese garden centered on Namba no Koike, a small pond closely connected with the origins of Samukawa Shrine. The garden also incorporates the sacred hill of Kantakeyama behind the shrine.
The area was formerly a restricted sacred site that ordinary visitors were not permitted to enter. In 2009, it was developed and opened as Kantakeyama Shin-en. The garden was designed by Toshio Masuno, a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and internationally renowned Japanese garden designer.
Kantakeyama Shin-en is open from April 1 through November 30. It is normally closed on Mondays, although it remains open when Monday is a public holiday.
Entry is limited to visitors who have received a prayer service in the main shrine. Admission to the garden is available according to the amount of the offering made for the prayer service.
Samukawa Shrine preserves a helmet bowl known as the Sixty-Two-Plate Suji Kabuto, together with three types of remaining metal fittings. This set is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Kanagawa Prefecture.
According to tradition, the helmet was dedicated by Takeda Shingen in 1569, during the Eiroku era, when he attacked Odawara Castle, which was controlled by the Later Hojo clan. It is said that Shingen offered the helmet to pray for victory in battle.
The helmet is regarded as a representative example of a suji-kabuto helmet bowl made in the Kanto region during the Sengoku period. It is particularly notable for its carefully executed construction and detailed workmanship.
An inscription on the helmet bowl reads “Auspicious day, third month, Hinoto-tori, sixth year of the Tenbun era.” The helmet is also decorated with the Takeda family’s flower-diamond crest. These features support the possibility that it was dedicated by Takeda Shingen.
With its ancient history, distinctive religious traditions, beautiful garden, and valuable cultural property, Samukawa Shrine remains an important destination for worshippers and visitors interested in the history and culture of the Kanto region.