Chikuzen Province Ichinomiya
Sumiyoshi Jinja (Chikuzen)
住吉神社
Sumiyoshi Jinja (Chikuzen) is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Chikuzen Province, in present-day Fukuoka. It has a car park (about 30 spaces); the sources we checked do not give a fee. Opening hours end at 17:00 (shrine office). Without a car, the shrine's own website gives 1 route from a station (on foot), one of them a walk of about 8 min; the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on October 12–14 every year. We found 1 entry for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Hakozakigu, 3.3 km to the north in a straight line.
Getting there
福岡県福岡市博多区住吉3-1-51
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 博多駅
- On foot, about 8 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
JR博多駅・地下鉄博多駅より徒歩約8分／西鉄バス「住吉」下車、徒歩約2分
Taken from the shrine's own website (交通のご案内 | 【公式】福岡 (博多) の筑前國一之宮 住吉神社, 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 30 spaces); the sources we checked do not give a fee.
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. The location is taken from OpenStreetMap and has not been checked on the ground.
約30台。料金の記載なし。出張祭典の場合は駐車場所が異なる
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 (shrine office).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
9:00-17:00
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 3 ichinomiya in Fukuoka in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- The shrine says its history goes back more than about 1,800 years.
- History
- Old texts refer to it as Sumiyoshi Honsha and Nihon Daiichi Sumiyoshi-gu.
- Buildings
- The main sanctuary was rebuilt in 1623.
- History
- The Saeki family of chief priests, driven to Izu by the Taira regime, became prayer priests for Minamoto no Yoritomo.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (住吉神社について, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Sokotsutsuno-no-Kami 底筒男神 2 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Nakatsutsuno-no-Kami 中筒男神 3 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Uwatsutsuno-no-Kami 表筒男神 2 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Amaterasu-Okami 天照皇大神 also enshrined 10 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Jingu-Kogo 神功皇后 also enshrined 10 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
The shrine's website says the deities were born when Izanagi purified himself at Ahakihara in Tsukushi, and that the five together are called Sumiyoshi Gosho Ōkami. They are revered for protection through purity of body and mind, and as guardians at sea.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Goshuin (shrine seal)
- Available
- Yes
- Hours
- 9:00-17:00
- Offering
- ¥500
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 住吉神社本殿
-
Important Cultural Property
住吉造、檜皮葺
designated 1922-04-13 · early Edo period
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
10月12～14日 例大祭（相撲会大祭）
source
Other festivals and rituals
- 御田祭
- 3月7日
- 名越祭
- 7月30～8月1日
- 早穂祭
- 9月4日
- 歩射祭
- 11月7日
- 追儺祭（鬼すべ・鷽替え行事）
- no date stated
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Hakozakigu, about 3.3 km to the north in a straight line, in the same province. After that come Chiriku Hachimangu (29 km south) and Yodohime Jinja (32 km south-west).
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.
The city of Fukuoka states that it is a shrine entered in the Engishiki and calls it plainly “the ichinomiya of Chikuzen Province”. Fukuoka Prefecture’s official tourism site also heads its page “Chikuzen no Kuni Ichinomiya Sumiyoshi Jinja”.
- https://bunkazai.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/cultural_properties/detail/93 (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.crossroadfukuoka.jp/spot/12552 (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 Chikuzen Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Chikuzen Province (Saikaidō)
- Prefecture
- Fukuoka
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kanpei Shōsha
Sources
- https://bunkazai.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/cultural_properties/detail/93 (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.crossroadfukuoka.jp/spot/12552 (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.nihondaiichisumiyoshigu.jp/access/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.nihondaiichisumiyoshigu.jp/amulets/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.nihondaiichisumiyoshigu.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.