Echizen Province Ichinomiya
Kehi Jingu
氣比神宮
Kehi Jingu is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Echizen Province, in present-day Fukui. It has a car park (about 100 spaces), free. Opening hours end at 16:45 (charms and goshuin). Without a car, the shrine's own website gives 2 routes from a station (on foot, by bus), one of them a walk of about 15 min; the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on September 4 every year. The nearest other ichinomiya is Wakasahime Jinja (Lower Shrine), 33 km to the south-west in a straight line.
Getting there
福井県敦賀市曙町11-68
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 敦賀駅JR北陸本線
- On foot, about 15 min.
- From 敦賀駅JR北陸本線
- By bus, about 5 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
JR北陸本線「敦賀駅」下車／徒歩約15分 又は駅前よりバスにて約5分／「敦賀市コミュニテイバス」の「氣比神宮前」停留所でお降り下さい。（一部路線を除く。）
Taken from the shrine's own website (氣比神宮 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 100 spaces), free.
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 80 m in a straight line (the walk is longer). The location is taken from OpenStreetMap and has not been checked on the ground.
複数箇所。正面大鳥居横 約10台／本殿東側 普通車約50台＋大型バス約10台
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 (charms and goshuin).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
8:45-16:45（お守り・御朱印授与）／祈願受付 9:00-16:00
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 3 ichinomiya in Fukui in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- According to the shrine's tradition, Izasawake-no-mikoto descended to a sacred spot in the grounds, now called Doko.
- History
- In 1570 the shrine sided with the Asakura against Oda Nobunaga; its temple quarters were burned and its rites ceased.
- Buildings
- It was destroyed with the other buildings in the precinct in a wartime air raid on July 12, 1945.
- Name
- On March 26, 1895, it was granted the title jingu and renamed Kehi Jingu.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (氣比神宮について - ご祈願、厄除け、神前結婚式なら、氣比神宮, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Izasawake-no-Mikoto 伊奢沙別命
- Chuai-Tenno 仲哀天皇 also enshrined 5 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Jingu-Kogo 神功皇后 also enshrined 10 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Ojin-Tenno 応神天皇 also enshrined 10 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Yamatotakeru-no-Mikoto 日本武尊 also enshrined 5 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Tamahime-no-Mikoto 玉姫命 also enshrined
- Takenochinosukune-no-Mikoto 武内宿禰命 also enshrined 4 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
The shrine's website says the principal deity, Izasawake-no-Mikoto, is also called Miketsu-Ōkami and Kehi-no-Ōkami, and that six further deities were enshrined with him by imperial order in 702.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Yes
- Hours
- 8:45-16:45
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
9月4日（旧暦8月4日） 例大祭
source
Other festivals and rituals
- 氣比の長祭
- 9月2日〜15日
- 神幸祭
- 9月3日
- 総参祭
- 7月22日
- 春季例祭
- 5月4日
- 御誓祭
- 3月6日（旧暦2月6日）
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Wakasahime Jinja (Lower Shrine), about 33 km to the south-west in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Wakasa Province. After that come Wakasahiko Jinja (34 km south-west) and Nangu Taisha (52 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
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 Echizen Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Echizen Province (Hokurikudō)
- Prefecture
- Fukui
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kanpei Taisha
Sources
- https://kehijingu.jp/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://tsuruga-kanko.jp/spot/shrines_temples/kehijingu-shrine/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://kehijingu.jp/about/ (checked 2026-09-10)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.