Totomi Province Ichinomiya
Kotonomama Hachimangu
事任八幡宮
Kotonomama Hachimangu is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Totomi Province, in present-day Shizuoka. It has a car park (free). Opening hours end at 17:00 (charm counter). Without a car, a local tourism body gives 1 route from a station (by bus); the station names are listed below. The nearest other ichinomiya is Okuni Jinja, 17 km to the west in a straight line.
Getting there
静岡県掛川市八坂642
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 掛川駅JR
- By bus.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
JR「掛川駅」から掛川バスサービス東山線「ことのまま八幡宮前」下車、徒歩約3分
Taken from a local tourism body (事任八幡宮 | スポット・体験 | 【公式】静岡県観光ガイド Hello Navi, 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 (free).
The fee in the source’s own words: 「駐車場備考：無料」 (source, checked 2026-10-15).
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 90 m in a straight line (the walk is longer). The location is taken from OpenStreetMap and has not been checked on the ground.
駐車場あり（台数の記載なし）、無料。大型バスの駐車場はない（いずれも静岡県観光協会）
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（御神札授与）
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 4 ichinomiya in Shizuoka in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- History
- Its name appears in The Pillow Book, written by Sei Shōnagon in the Heian period.
- History
- The sacred cedar beside the worship hall, about 36 m tall, is said to have been planted by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro.
Summarised from a local tourism body (事任八幡宮｜ハローナビしずおか, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Kotonomachihime-no-Mikoto 己等乃麻知比売命
The Shizuoka Prefecture tourism association says the principal deity is Kotonomachihime-no-Mikoto, who governs the power of kotodama — the spirit of words.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the prefectural shrine office or local authority.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Yes
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
毎年9月に3日間 事任八幡宮例大祭
source
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Okuni Jinja, about 17 km to the west in a straight line, in the same province. After that come Toga Jinja (60 km west) and Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha (68 km north-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.
Shizuoka Prefecture’s official tourism guide calls it “the ichinomiya of Totomi Province, a shrine of such standing that it is mentioned in the Heian-period classic Makura no Sōshi (枕草子).”
- https://hellonavi.jp/spot/1252 (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.city.kakegawa.shizuoka.jp/gyosei/docs/8724.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 Totomi Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Totomi Province (Tōkaidō)
- Prefecture
- Shizuoka
- Engishiki (927)
- Shōsha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kensha
Sources
- https://hellonavi.jp/spot/1252 (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.city.kakegawa.shizuoka.jp/gyosei/docs/8724.html (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.kakegawa-kankou.com/news/20325/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.city.kakegawa.shizuoka.jp/kanko/spot-list/kotonomama.html (checked 2026-09-09)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.