What time do ichinomiya close?

The commonest way to waste a drive is to arrive and find nobody there. The grounds of a shrine are often open all day, but the counter that sells charms and writes goshuin shuts in the late afternoon — at many ichinomiya by 16:00.

Visiting several in one day? The day-route planner works out an order that reaches each office before these times.

Where the 85 closing times fall

89 of the 120 shrines publish something about their hours. For 4 of those, what is published is only the gate or visiting hours, so the counter's own hours are unknown. The figures below are the remaining 85.

59 of the 85 are finished by 16:45. If you are driving to several in a day, work backwards from the last one. Planning to arrive at the final shrine by 16:00 clears almost all of them.

4 close over lunch

Arriving at midday is easy to do by accident when you are driving between shrines, and at these the counter is shut.

Omiwa Jinja (Owari)Owari Province

社務所 10:00-12:00／13:30-15:00。公式が「急な事態などで時間が遅れたり休まなければいけない事も発生いたします」と明記している

Chokaizan Omonoimi JinjaDewa Province

9:00-12:00／13:00-17:00（12:00〜13:00は昼休業）

Tsuno JinjaHyuga Province

御朱印受付 9:00-12:00／13:00-16:30

Nitta JinjaSatsuma Province

9:00-12:00／13:00-16:00（御祈願祭の最終受付15:45）

10 say how their hours or goshuin change at New Year

Over the first days of January (hatsumōde, when most people visit a shrine) some open earlier or stay open later, and some write goshuin only on pre-written slips. The notes are in Japanese and are not all from the same year; check each shrine's notice for 2026–27, usually posted in December.

• Izawanomiya
• Toga Jinja
• Samukawa Jinja
• Kashima Jingu
• Takase Jinja
• Yurahime Jinja
• Itsukushima Jinja
• Usa Jingu
• Hokkaido Jingu
• Chichibu Jinja

8 change with the season or at New Year

At these the closing time is different in some months or over the first days of January — usually earlier, but Itsukushima stays open later at New Year. The day-route planner swaps in the right time for the date you choose.

Omiwa JinjaYamato Province

Opening hours end at 17:00 (charm counter; 16:30 from December to February).

IzawanomiyaShima Province

Opening hours end at 18:00 (charm counter; 17:00 from October to December).

Nikko Futarasan JinjaShimotsuke Province

Opening hours end at 17:00 (goshuin; visiting hours end at 16:00 from November to March).

Shiwahiko Shiogama JinjaMutsu Province

Opening hours end at 16:30 (prayer-rite desk; 16:00 in February, August and November; 15:30 in December).

Itsukushima JinjaAki Province

Opening hours end at 18:00 (hall entry; 18:30 from January 1 to 3; 17:30 from January 4 to the end of February; 17:30 from October 15 to November 30; 17:00 from December 1 to 31).

Hokkaido JinguEzo Province

Opening hours end at 17:00 (charm and goshuin counter; 18:00 from January 1 to 3; 16:00 from January 4 to the end of February; 16:00 from November 1 to December 30).

Chichibu JinjaChichibu Province

Opening hours end at 16:30 (shrine office; 16:00 from January 1 to 6).

Iwakiyama JinjaTsugaru Province

Opening hours end at 16:00 (counter; 15:30 from November to February).

Where there may be nobody to serve you

At some ichinomiya no priest is based on site. These shrines say so themselves — we are quoting them, not guessing.

Manai JinjaTango Province

Counter opens only a few days a month授与所は月に数日のみ開設（開設日は籠神社の公式サイトで告知）。御朱印・お守りは本社の籠神社で扱う

Yurahime JinjaOki Province

Nishinoshima tourism office counter社務所に常駐者なし。御朱印は西ノ島町観光協会窓口（8:30-17:30、年中無休。年末年始は変動あり）

Amenotanagao JinjaIki Province

No staffed shrine office常駐の社務所はない

Oki JinjaIki Province

No staffed shrine office常駐の社務所はない

Izawa JinjaShima Province

Staffed, but the shrine states that there are days when nobody is there授与所 9:30-16:00（常駐ではなく不在の日がある）※伊勢志摩観光ナビ（公益社団法人伊勢志摩観光コンベンション機構）。神社の公式サイトは見つからず

Omiwa Jinja (Owari)Owari Province

Staffed, but the shrine states that there are days when nobody is there社務所 10:00-12:00／13:30-15:00。公式が「急な事態などで時間が遅れたり休まなければいけない事も発生いたします」と明記している

Wakasahiko JinjaWakasa Province

Staffed, but the shrine states that there are days when nobody is there10:00-15:00（社務所は若狭姫神社に置かれ両社を兼務。地域の神事で職員不在の日がある）

If a goshuin is the point of the trip, telephone first. Every shrine page carries a number where we have one.

8 shrines where the sources disagree

At these, the shrine's own site and the prefectural or city tourism site give different times. One of them is presumably out of date, but we cannot tell which, so we show both and say so. Treat the earlier time as the real one.

• Masumida Jinja
• Awa Jinja
• Utsunomiya Futaarayama Jinja
• Nikko Futarasan Jinja
• Ube Jinja
• Itakiso Jinja
• Oyamazumi Jinja
• Iwakiyama Jinja

All 85, earliest closing first

The Japanese column is the shrine's published wording. Each shrine's own page carries it in full, with the source.

4 publish hours that are not the counter's

These shrines do publish times — but only for the gate, the grounds, or hall entry. When somebody will be at the counter is not stated anywhere we could find.

Chokaizan Omonoimi JinjaDewa Province

The office is at the Fukura hall社務所は吹浦口之宮側にある（蕨岡側の受付時間は確認できず）

Manai JinjaTango Province

Counter opens only a few days a month授与所は月に数日のみ開設（開設日は籠神社の公式サイトで告知）。御朱印・お守りは本社の籠神社で扱う

Amenotanagao JinjaIki Province

No staffed shrine office

Oki JinjaIki Province

No staffed shrine office

The other 31 publish nothing

Shrines with no website, or whose website says nothing about hours. We will not write "probably 9 to 5" for a shrine we could not check. Those pages carry a telephone number where one exists.

Goshuin　/　Parking　/　Driving in rural Japan　/　How to visit a shrine

Page last updated: 2026-10-30