Yamashiro Province Ichinomiya
Kamowakeikazuchi Jinja
賀茂別雷神社
Kamowakeikazuchi 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 16:45 (charm counter). Without a car, the shrine's own website gives 2 routes from a station (by bus); the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on May 15 every year. We found 5 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties, 1 of them National Treasure. The nearest other ichinomiya is Kamomioya Jinja, 3.1 km to the south-east in a straight line.
Getting there
京都府京都市北区上賀茂本山 339
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
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By train and bus
- From 京都駅JR
- By bus.
- From 北山駅地下鉄烏丸線
- By bus.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
JR京都駅より 4系統上賀茂神社行き → 「上賀茂神社前」下車すぐ／地下鉄 北山駅より 4系統上賀茂神社行き → 「上賀茂神社前」下車すぐ／地下鉄烏丸線 北大路駅徒歩25分 北山駅徒歩25分
Taken from the shrine's own website (アクセス | 賀茂別雷神社（上賀茂神社）公式Webサイト, 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 60 m in a straight line (the walk is longer). The location is taken from OpenStreetMap and has not been checked on the ground.
通常30分200円、繁忙日は1回1,000円。通常6:00〜22:00（出庫は24時間可）、繁忙日は入庫9:00〜16:00・出庫17:00まで。観光バスは4時間まで2,200円
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 16:45 (charm counter).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
8:00-16:45（授与所）／祈祷受付 9:00-16:00
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
- According to the shrine's tradition, the deity descended in the age of the gods on Mt. Kōyama, north-northwest of the main sanctuary.
- Buildings
- In 677 (Tenmu 6), Yamashiro Province built the Kamo shrine, laying the foundation of buildings that have barely changed since.
- History
- After Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Heian-kyō, successive emperors visited and made offerings to it as protector of the capital.
- History
- The shrine says that at the deity's descent an oracle ordered a festival decorated with aoi leaves, and aoi became the shrine crest.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (御由緒と御神紋｜上賀茂神社, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Kamowakeikazuchi-no-Okami 賀茂別雷大神
The shrine's website says the deity, through the power of thunder, is widely worshipped as a god who wards off misfortune and disasters, protects against lightning, and guards the electrical industry.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Not confirmed
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 賀茂別雷神社
-
National Treasure
三間社流造、檜皮葺
designated 1953-03-31 · end of the Edo period - 賀茂別雷神社
-
Important Cultural Property
桁行一間、梁間一間、一重、唐破風造、檜皮葺
designated 1901-08-02 · end of the Edo period - 賀茂別雷神社文書（一万三千六百三十九通） 附 文書箱
- Important Cultural Property
- 賀茂神主経久記
- Important Cultural Property
- 賀茂別雷神社境内
- 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
- 賀茂競馬
- 5月5日
- 烏相撲
- 9月9日
- 武射神事
- 1月16日
- 燃灯祭
- 第二の子の日
- 笠懸神事
- 第三日曜日
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Kamomioya Jinja, about 3.1 km to the south-east in a straight line, in the same province. After that come Izumo Daijingu (16 km west) and Takebe Taisha (18 km south-east).
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 says the shrine “became the ichinomiya of Yamashiro Province from the Heian period onward, together with Kamomioya Jinja (Shimogamo Jinja).”
- https://www.pref.kyoto.jp/isan/kamomuke.html (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/kamomuke.html (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.kamigamojinja.jp/access/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.kamigamojinja.jp/sanpai/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.kamigamojinja.jp/about/ (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://www.kamigamojinja.jp/about/shinwa/ (checked 2026-09-10)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.