Yamashiro Province Ichinomiya
Kamomioya Jinja
賀茂御祖神社
Kamomioya Jinja is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Yamashiro Province, in present-day Kyoto. It has a car park (paid). Opening hours end at 16:30 (charm counter and prayer-rite desk). Without a car, the shrine's own website gives 2 routes from a station (by bus, on foot), one of them a walk of 12 min; the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on May 15 every year. We found 3 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties, 1 of them National Treasure. The nearest other ichinomiya is Kamowakeikazuchi Jinja, 3.1 km to the north-west in a straight line.
Getting there
京都府京都市左京区下鴨泉川町 59
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 京都駅JR
- By bus.
- From 出町柳駅京阪
- On foot, 12 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
市バス 京都駅～下鴨神社前（もしくは糺ノ森前）まで市バス4番・205番／京都駅からの乗り継ぎ→JR奈良線：京都駅～東福寺駅→乗り換え（京阪：出町柳駅行き）→京阪東福寺駅～出町柳駅→徒歩12分：下鴨神社
Taken from the shrine's own website (アクセス・境内マップ | 下鴨神社 | 賀茂御祖神社, 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 (paid).
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 100 m in a straight line (the walk is longer).
西駐車場。最初の1時間500円、以降30分毎300円。24時間（祭典により変更）。高さ制限2m30cm（キャンピングカー不可）。正月1/1〜15は1時間1,000円・以降30分毎500円、12/31 17:00〜1/12 17:00は下鴨本通りからの右折入庫不可、大型バスは12/30〜1/4駐車不可
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 16:30 (charm counter and prayer-rite desk).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
9:00-16:30（授与所・祈祷受付）
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 5 ichinomiya in Kyoto in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- The founding date is unknown; the shrine cites a record of its fence being repaired in the 7th year of Emperor Sujin (90 BC), suggesting older worship.
- Buildings
- In 677 (Hakuhō 6), the governor of Yamashiro Province was ordered to build the shrine, and its roofs were changed to cypress bark and tile.
- History
- The system of periodic rebuilding (shikinen sengū) was established, with the first held in 1036 (Chōgen 9).
Summarised from the shrine's own website (下鴨神社について（御祭神・歴史・神話）｜賀茂御祖神社, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Kamotaketsunumi-no-Mikoto 賀茂建角身命
- Tamayorihime-no-Mikoto 玉依媛命 4 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
The shrine's website says Kamotaketsunumi-no-Mikoto, a god of the settling of Kyoto, is enshrined in the western main hall, and his daughter Tamayorihime-no-Mikoto in the eastern main hall. She is also described as the mother of the deity of Kamigamo Shrine.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Yes
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 賀茂御祖神社
-
National Treasure
三間社流造、檜皮葺
designated 1953-03-31 · end of the Edo period - 賀茂御祖神社
-
Important Cultural Property
桁行五間、梁間一間、一重、北端唐破風造、南端幣殿に接続、檜皮葺
designated 1901-08-02 · early Edo period - 賀茂御祖神社境内
- Historic Site
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
5月15日 賀茂祭（葵祭）
source
Other festivals and rituals
- 流鏑馬神事
- 5月3日
- 御蔭祭
- 5月12日
- 御手洗祭（足つけ神事）
- 7月土用
- 夏越神事（矢取りの神事）
- 立秋の前夜
- 蹴鞠はじめ
- 1月4日
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Kamowakeikazuchi Jinja, about 3.1 km to the north-west in a straight line, in the same province. After that come Takebe Taisha (15 km south-east) and Izumo Daijingu (18 km 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
Documented by a public source
A public body — the city, the prefecture, or the prefectural shrine office — describes this shrine as the ichinomiya of its province.
Listed on the map published by the Ichinomiya Pilgrimage Association.
Kyoto Prefecture names it the ichinomiya of Yamashiro Province together with Kamowakeikazuchi Jinja (Kamigamo Jinja). The shrine’s own website also says it “is worshipped as the guardian deity of Kyoto, as the ichinomiya of Yamashiro.”
- https://www.pref.kyoto.jp/isan/kamomio.html (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp/about (checked 2026-09-09)
- 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 Yamashiro Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Yamashiro Province (Kinai)
- Prefecture
- Kyoto
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kanpei Taisha
Sources
- https://www.pref.kyoto.jp/isan/kamomio.html (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp/about (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp/access/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp/omamori (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.shimogamo-jinja.or.jp/ (checked 2026-09-10)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.