Higo Province Ichinomiya
Aso Jinja
阿蘇神社
Aso Jinja is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Higo Province, in present-day Kumamoto. It has a car park (about 307 spaces), paid. Opening hours end at 17:00 (charm counter). Without a car, the shrine's own website gives 1 route from a station (on foot), one of them a walk of 15 min; the station names are listed below. We found 3 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Sasamuta Jinja, 51 km to the north-east in a straight line.
Getting there
熊本県阿蘇市一の宮町宮地 3083-1
The address is given in Japanese on purpose. Show it to a taxi driver, or copy it into a car navigation system — an English transliteration will not be recognised.
For a car navigation system
- Phone
- Japanese car navigation searches by phone number. This is the fastest way to enter a destination.
- Coordinates
- Derived from the address down to the street number, via Japan's national mapping agency. Not a survey of the hall itself
- Address
How to rent and drive a car in Japan →
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By train and bus
- From 宮地駅JR豊肥本線
- On foot, 15 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
JR豊肥本線 宮地駅から徒歩15分
Taken from the shrine's own website (阿蘇神社 公式サイト アクセス, checked 2026-10-08). Station and stop names stay in Japanese so you can match them to signs. Fares and timetables are not given — they change.
Parking
It has a car park (about 307 spaces), paid.
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 130 m in a straight line (the walk is longer).
ゲート式・24時間利用可。普通車は最初の30分無料、以降1時間ごとに100円、1日上限1,000円。大型車（車高2.4m以上）は3時間1,000円で上限なし。二輪車無料。第1駐車場35台・第2駐車場79台・第3駐車場193台（第3は閉鎖中の表示）。ほかに阿蘇市一の宮町中央駐車場（普通車 最初の3時間300円、以降1時間ごとに100円、1日上限1,000円）。キャンピングカー等の大型特殊車は駐車できない
The note above is in Japanese; it usually records dates when the car park is closed, and the fee.
Shrine office hours
Opening hours end at 17:00 (charm counter).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
9:00-17:00（御札所）
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Combining it with the 3 other ichinomiya within 80 km? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- The shrine is said to have been founded in the ninth year of Emperor Kōrei.
- History
- The office of chief priest has been hereditary in the Aso family, known as one of Japan's oldest lineages.
- Buildings
- The shrine buildings were rebuilt from 1835 to 1850 with donations from the Kumamoto domain.
- Buildings
- The Kumamoto earthquakes of Heisei 28 toppled the gate and worship hall; restoration work was completed in December of Reiwa 5.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (阿蘇神社について｜阿蘇神社, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Takeiwatatsu-no-Mikoto 健磐龍命
The shrine's website says it enshrines Takeiwatatsu-no-Mikoto, grandson of Emperor Jinmu, who opened up Aso, together with eleven more members of his family — twelve deities in all — and has over 2,000 years of history.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Yes
- Hours
- 9:00-17:00
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 阿蘇神社
-
Important Cultural Property
桁行５間、梁間２間、一重、入母屋造、正面千鳥破風付、軒唐破風付向拝３間、銅板葺
designated 2007-06-18 · end of the Edo period - 阿蘇の農耕祭事
- Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (manners and customs)
- 阿蘇の御田植
- Intangible Folk Cultural Property selected for recording (folk performing arts)
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
7月28日 御田祭（御田植神幸式、通称オンダマツリ）
source
The shrine itself does not call this its 例祭. We placed its heaviest festival here; that is our judgement, not the shrine's wording.
Other festivals and rituals
- 田作祭
- 卯の祭（３月）の期間中、巳の日から亥の日までの7日間
- 卯の祭
- 3月初めの卯の日から次の卯の日までの13日間
- 田実祭
- 9月25日
- 踏歌節会
- 旧暦1月13日
old-calendar date - 風祭
- 旧暦4月4日・旧暦7月4日
old-calendar date
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Sasamuta Jinja, about 51 km to the north-east in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Bungo Province. After that come Yusuhara Hachimangu (52 km north-east) and Kora Taisha (66 km north-west).
Straight-line distances between the shrines, not road distances. Across mountains or water, the drive is much longer.
Why this shrine is called an ichinomiya
Listed by the pilgrimage association
It appears on the map published by the Ichinomiya Pilgrimage Association. We have not yet checked other primary sources.
- 全国一の宮巡拝会『全国一の宮神社所在地』（平成30年5月・改訂版 第4版） (checked 2026-09-09)
More on how the shrines of this province relate to one another is on the Higo Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Higo Province (Saikaidō)
- Prefecture
- Kumamoto
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kanpei Taisha
Sources
- https://asojinja.or.jp/access/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.city.aso.kumamoto.jp/tourism/spot/aso_shrine_parking/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://asojinja.or.jp/about/ (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://www.city.aso.kumamoto.jp/tourism/spot/historic/shrine/ (checked 2026-09-10)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.