How many ichinomiya are there?

There is no single number. Depending on what you count, the answer is 75, 109, or 120. None of these is wrong. They are counting different things.

Old provinces: 75
On the pilgrimage map: 109
Listed on this site: 120
Provinces where it is disputed: 26

Count the provinces: 75

An ichinomiya is the foremost shrine of a province, so counting provinces is the most natural way in. This site sets out 75 of them.

Two of those are not classical provinces at all. Hokkaidō and the Ryūkyūs (Okinawa) were never provinces under the ancient system; shrines there came to be called ichinomiya only in the modern era, and we give them a province-equivalent slot so they are not simply dropped.

Count the pilgrimage map: 109 shrines

The Ichinomiya Pilgrimage Association publishes a map, 全国一の宮神社所在地 (4th revised edition, May 2018). It is the list pilgrims actually travel by, and 109 of the 120 shrines on this site appear on it.

That is more than the 75 provinces because some provinces have more than one shrine on the map.

Count this site's listing: 120 shrines

We add 11 reference entries to those 109: shrines once regarded as the ichinomiya, shrines that claim the title themselves, and closely related ancient shrines.

A reference entry is not a claim that the shrine is the ichinomiya today. Each one says on its own page that it is absent from the association's map, and why we list it anyway. If your aim is the pilgrimage itself, leave the reference entries out of your route.

Count shrines rather than halls: 112

One shrine can be several separate precincts. Suwa Taisha is one shrine in four: Kamisha Honmiya, Kamisha Maemiya, Shimosha Harumiya and Shimosha Akimiya. Oyama Jinja is three, and Wakasahiko and Wakasahime are an upper and a lower shrine of one institution.

We give each precinct its own page, because they are separate places to drive to. Counted as institutions, the figure is 112.

Why the counts disagree

In 26 provinces the title is disputed

Ichinomiya was never an imperial appointment. The title settled on whichever shrine the province actually venerated first, which means there is no founding document to check. Where more than one shrine claims it, those shrines are called ronsha (論社).

We do not pick a winner. We list them all and say, province by province, what each claim rests on.

One province holds the title jointly

In Yamashiro Province two shrines are not competing — they hold the title together. Kyoto Prefecture writes that Kamowakeikazuchi Jinja "became the ichinomiya of Yamashiro Province together with Kamomioya Jinja." That is a different situation from a disputed title, and we keep the two apart.

One prefecture has no ichinomiya at all

The 120 shrines here fall across 46 of Japan's 47 prefectures. The one with none is Akita.

Most of Akita was the old province of Dewa — but Dewa's ichinomiya, Chōkaisan Ōmonoimi Jinja, stands on the Yamagata side. Mount Chōkai straddles the border, and both of the shrine's foot-of-the-mountain halls are in Yamagata.

It is the clearest illustration of the fact that provinces and prefectures do not line up.

Provinces vary a great deal

Shrines in the province	Provinces
1	44
2	23
3	4
4	3
6	1 (Ecchu Province)

Where we stand

We will not tell you that there are exactly N ichinomiya in Japan. It is not that simple, and saying so would be a convenience rather than a finding.

Instead we say which number came from which way of counting, and on every shrine page we grade what the claim rests on — a prefectural or municipal body stating it, the pilgrimage map alone, or the shrine's own assertion. The strength of the claim varies.

All shrines　/　What is an ichinomiya　/　About this site

Page last updated: 2026-10-30