Satsuma Province Ichinomiya
Nitta Jinja
新田神社
Nitta Jinja is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Satsuma Province, in present-day Kagoshima. It has a car park (about 200 spaces); the sources we checked do not give a fee. Opening hours end at 16:00 (shrine office). Without a car, the shrine's own website gives 2 routes from a station (on foot, by taxi), one of them a walk of about 25 min; the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on September 15 every year. We found 4 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Kagoshima Jingu, 43 km to the east in a straight line.
Getting there
鹿児島県薩摩川内市宮内町 1935-2
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.
Before you drive here
There is a notice about reaching this shrine by car — it may concern road closures at New Year, vehicle size limits, which way you can turn into the car park, or satellite navigation giving the wrong place. The Japanese text reads:
参道に300段を越える階段があるが、車で本殿近くまで行くことができる（鹿児島県観光公式）。車祓いを希望する場合は車祓い所に駐車し、本殿右手の祈願受付所へ
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 上川内駅肥薩おれんじ鉄道
- On foot, about 25 min.
- From 川内駅JR九州新幹線
- By taxi, 10 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
肥薩おれんじ鉄道 上川内駅 徒歩にて約25分 JR九州新幹線 川内駅 タクシーにて10分
Taken from the shrine's own website (新田神社 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 200 spaces); the sources we checked do not give a fee.
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.
境内駐車場 約200台。料金の記載なし。御田植祭・早馬祭などの特別行事時は臨時駐車場を設置
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 16:00 (shrine office).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
9:00-12:00／13:00-16:00（御祈願祭の最終受付15:45）
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 3 ichinomiya in Kagoshima in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- The shrine is said to have begun with the worship of Ninigi no Mikoto.
- Name
- The shrine first appears in Heian-period documents, when it was called Nitta-gū.
- Moved
- After a fire in Jōan 3 destroyed the halls on the mountainside, the shrine was rebuilt on the present summit.
- Buildings
- In the Keichō era, Shimazu Yoshihisa built the halls on which the present buildings are based.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (由緒｜新田神社, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Amatsuhidakahikohononinigi-no-Mikoto 天津日高彦火瓊瓊杵尊
- Amaterasu-Okami 天照皇大御神 also enshrined 10 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Masakaakatsukachihayahiamenoshihomimi-no-Mikoto 正哉吾勝々速日天忍穂耳尊 also enshrined 4 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
The shrine's website says it enshrines Ninigi-no-Mikoto, ancestor of the imperial line, at the centre.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Yes
- Hours
- 9:00-12:00／13:00-16:00
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 新田神社文書（百二十四通）
- Important Cultural Property
- 柏樹鷹狩鏡
- Important Cultural Property
- 秋草蝶鳥鏡
- Important Cultural Property
- 銅鏡〈花鳥文様／永仁二年三月十八日施入ノ銘アリ〉
- Important Cultural Property
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
9月15日 例祭
source
Other festivals and rituals
- 早馬祭
- 春分の日
- 御田植祭
- 入梅の日の前の日曜日
- 夏越祭・六月燈
- 7月31日
- 御通夜祭
- 10月最終土曜日
- 川内大綱引壇木祭
- 9月22日頃
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Kagoshima Jingu, about 43 km to the east in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Osumi Province. After that come Hirakiki Jinja (73 km south) and Tsuno Jinja (129 km 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
Claimed by the shrine
The shrine itself uses the title, but does not name the historical document it rests on.
Listed on the map published by the Ichinomiya Pilgrimage Association.
The shrine’s own website displays “Nitta Jinja, Ichinomiya of Satsuma Province”, but it gives no source name and no date for the claim to that title. Its principal deity is Ninigi no Mikoto, and its grounds contain an imperial mausoleum (可愛山陵).
- https://www.nitta-jinja.or.jp/origin (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 Satsuma Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Satsuma Province (Saikaidō)
- Prefecture
- Kagoshima
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kokuhei Chūsha
Sources
- https://www.nitta-jinja.or.jp/origin (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.nitta-jinja.or.jp/access (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.kagoshima-kankou.com/guide/10417 (checked 2026-09-09)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.