Suwa Taisha Kamisha Honmiya
諏訪大社上社本宮
Suwa Taisha Kamisha Honmiya is one of the shrine sites that together form the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Shinano Province, in present-day Nagano. It has a car park (about 100 spaces); the sources we checked do not give a fee. Opening hours end at 17:00 (charm counter). Without a car, a local tourism body gives 1 route from a station (on foot), one of them a walk of about 45 min; the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on April 15 every year. We found 3 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Sengen Jinja, 65 km to the south-east in a straight line.
Getting there
長野県諏訪市中洲宮山 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
- From OpenStreetMap, as 諏訪大社上社本宮 — the centre of the precinct, not the hall. Not checked on the ground
- Address
How to rent and drive a car in Japan →
Car hire Ad
Search rental cars on Tabirai (English)
Opens the English site of Tabirai, a Japanese car rental booking service. We have not compared its prices or cars. This is an affiliate link (A8.net): if you book, the site earns a commission at no extra cost to you.
By train and bus
- From 茅野駅JR
- On foot, about 45 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
公共交通機関でのアクセス JR茅野駅から徒歩約45分
Taken from a local tourism body (諏訪大社上社本宮 | 茅野観光ナビ, 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); the sources we checked do not give a fee.
普通車100台・大型車20台（長野県観光機構）。茅野市中央公民館の散策マップには「約300台収容の大駐車場」とあり、資料によって台数が違う。料金は確認できず。2025-2026の正月三が日は普通車1,000円・バス3,000円の「駐車場整理代」がかかった（諏訪観光協会）
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:
8:30-17:00（授与所。宝物殿 9:00-16:00）
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 4 ichinomiya in Nagano in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- History
- The four-legged gate, the oldest building at Honmiya, was donated in 1608 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who ordered his retainer Okubo Nagayasu to build it.
- Buildings
- The hall rebuilt by Suwa Yorimizu in 1617 was later moved to a Suwa shrine in the town of Fujimi.
- Buildings
- The present hall took eight years to build, until 1838, by the second-generation Tatekawa Washiro Tomimasa and local carpenters.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (諏訪大社 上社本宮, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Takeminakata-no-Mikoto 建御名方神 6 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 諏訪大社上社本宮
-
Important Cultural Property
正面一間、一重、切妻造、銅板葺
designated 1983-12-26 · end of the Edo period - 太刀〈無銘／〉
- Important Cultural Property
- 太刀〈銘忠吉／〉
- Important Cultural Property
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
四月十五日 例大祭
source
Other festivals and rituals
- 式年造営御柱大祭（御柱祭）
- 七年目毎の寅年と申年
- 歳旦祭～御頭御占神事
- 一月一日
- 十五夜相撲神事
- 九月十五日
- 八束穂講神楽
- 十月上旬
- 御田植祭
- 六月上旬
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Sengen Jinja, about 65 km to the south-east in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Kai Province. After that come Ichinomiya Nukisaki Jinja (72 km north-east) and Oyama Jinja (78 km north-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
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 Shinano Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Shinano Province (Tōsandō)
- Prefecture
- Nagano
Sources
- https://suwataisha.or.jp/visiting/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://suwataisha.or.jp/access/ (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://suwataisha.or.jp/about/miyamori/kamishahonmiya/ (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://suwataisha.or.jp/wp-content/themes/suwataisha/assets/images/keidai_honmiya.pdf (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://www.city.suwa.lg.jp/soshiki/15/3535.html (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://suwataisha.or.jp/about/miyamori/ (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://db.go-nagano.net/topics_detail6/id=1946 (checked 2026-10-15)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.