The ichinomiya of Hizen Province

What the Japanese sources say

Two shrines, Yodohime Jinja (與止日女神社) and Chiriku Hachimangu (千栗八幡宮), both call themselves the ichinomiya of Hizen — the shrine ranked first in the province. Of the 26 provinces, this is one of the few where a public body explained why that shrine became the ichinomiya.

Saga Prefecture’s “Saga no Rekishi Bunka Otakarachō” (さがの歴史・文化お宝帳) puts it this way: “Formerly Tajima Jinja in Higashi-Matsuura District was the great shrine, but it is thought that Kawakami Jinja (that is, Yodohime Jinja) rose to this position through the geographical advantage of being near the provincial capital (kokufu).” On this view the ichinomiya was decided not by the height of a shrine’s rank but by whether it was close to the provincial capital.

The Saga Prefectural Shrine Office says of Yodohime Jinja that it was “founded in the 25th year of Emperor Kinmei (564)”, that it is “entered in the Engishiki Jinmyōchō (延喜式神名帳), the register of official shrines”, and that it “was called the ichinomiya of Hizen by around the Ōhō era in the reign of Emperor Nijō (about 1161)”.

For Chiriku Hachimangu, the Miyaki Town Tourism Association, citing the Chinzei Yōryaku (鎮西要略), gives its founding as the first year of Jinki (724), and says that it “became a branch shrine of Usa Hachimangu in the Jōhei era (931–938), one of the five branch shrines” and “from medieval times, the ichinomiya of Hizen Province”.

— In the written record Yodohime Jinja appears first, and Chiriku seems to have come to stand alongside it on authority derived from the Usa Hachiman network (this is our own reading).

Written from Japanese sources, each quoted. The Japanese page has the same discussion with the original wording.