Kaga Province Ichinomiya
Shirayamahime Jinja
白山比咩神社
Shirayamahime Jinja is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Kaga Province, in present-day Ishikawa. It has a car park (about 500 spaces), free. Opening hours end at 16:00 (prayer rites). 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 30 min; the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on May 6 every year. We found 11 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties, 1 of them National Treasure. The nearest other ichinomiya is Takase Jinja, 32 km to the north-east in a straight line.
Getting there
石川県白山市三宮町ニ105-1
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 鶴来駅北陸鉄道
- On foot, about 30 min.
- From 鶴来駅北陸鉄道
- By bus.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
IRいしかわ鉄道/ 西金沢駅／乗り換え移動 徒歩1分／北陸鉄道/ 新西金沢駅／約28分／北陸鉄道/ 鶴来駅／・タクシー 約5分／・バス 北鉄バス／・徒歩 約30分
Taken from the shrine's own website (白山比咩神社 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 500 spaces), free.
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 50 m in a straight line (the walk is longer). The location is taken from OpenStreetMap and has not been checked on the ground.
3か所。表参道 約30台／北参道 約300台／南参道 約130台。すべて無料
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 (prayer rites).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
祈祷 9:00-16:00（8:30頃から受付）。授与所そのものの時間は公式に記載なし
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 2 ichinomiya in Ishikawa in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- According to tradition, it was founded on Mount Funaoka in 91 BC, the 7th year of Emperor Sujin.
- Moved
- It moved to Juhakko-gawara on the Tedori River in 297, then, after floods destroyed the site, to the Akuto forest in 716.
- Moved
- After a great fire in 1480 destroyed many buildings, it moved to the present site, where the subsidiary Sannomiya shrine stood.
- Buildings
- In 1596, Maeda Toshiie restored the Hakusan Hongu shrine.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (白山比咩神社について ｜ 白山比咩神社, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Shirayamahime-no-Okami 白山比咩大神
- Izanagi-no-Kami 伊弉諾尊 7 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Izanami-no-Mikoto 伊弉冉尊 4 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
The shrine's website identifies Shirayamahime-no-Ōkami with Kukurihime-no-Mikoto, enshrined with Izanagi and Izanami. In the Nihon Shoki she mediates between the two; because kukuri suggests 'binding together', she is revered today as a goddess of harmony and marriage.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Yes
- Offering
- ¥500
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 剣〈銘吉光／〉
- National Treasure
- 太刀〈銘長光／〉
- Important Cultural Property
- 木造狛犬
- Important Cultural Property
- 木造獅子狛犬
- Important Cultural Property
- 沈金彫手筥
- Important Cultural Property
- 白山縁起
- Important Cultural Property
- 神皇正統記
- Important Cultural Property
- 紙本墨書三宮古記
- Important Cultural Property
- 紙本墨書白山宮荘嚴講中記録
- Important Cultural Property
- 絹本著色白山三社神像
- Important Cultural Property
- 黒漆螺鈿鞍
- Important Cultural Property
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
5月6日 例大祭
source
Other festivals and rituals
- 御田植祭
- 5月17日
- 白山奥宮夏山開山祭
- 7月1日
- 白山奥宮大祭
- 7月18日
- 夏まつり白山水系水利感謝祭
- 8月14・15・16日
- 三宮まつり 子ども神輿巡幸
- 9月23日
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Takase Jinja, about 32 km to the north-east in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Ecchu Province. After that come Imizu Jinja (49 km north-east) and Keta Jinja (55 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
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 Kaga Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Kaga Province (Hokurikudō)
- Prefecture
- Ishikawa
- Engishiki (927)
- Shōsha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kokuhei Chūsha
Sources
- https://www.shirayama.or.jp/access/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.shirayama.or.jp/amulet/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.shirayama.or.jp/about/index.html (checked 2026-09-10)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.