Suwa Taisha Kamisha Maemiya
諏訪大社上社前宮
Suwa Taisha Kamisha Maemiya 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 20 spaces); the sources we checked do not give a fee. Opening hours end at 16:30 (charm counter). Without a car, a local tourism body gives 1 route from a station (on foot), one of them a walk of 40 min; the station names are listed below. Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on April 15 every year. We found 2 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Sengen Jinja, 64 km to the south-east in a straight line.
Getting there
長野県茅野市宮川2030
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 茅野駅JR
- On foot, 40 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40分
Taken from a local tourism body (諏訪大社上社前宮 | 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 20 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.
普通車20台・大型車10台（長野県観光機構）。茅野市中央公民館の散策マップでは約30台。料金は確認できず
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 16:30 (charm counter).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
9:00-16:30（授与所）
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
- Founding
- According to the shrine's tradition, this is where the Suwa deity first appeared.
- History
- In the mid-Muromachi period the chief priest moved his residence elsewhere, so most of the sacred buildings disappeared and only the rites remain.
- Buildings
- The present main hall was built in Showa 7 using old timber from the Showa 6 periodic rebuilding of Ise Jingu.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (諏訪大社 上社前宮, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Yasakatome-no-Kami 八坂刀売神 3 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Nationally designated cultural properties
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
四月十五日 御頭祭（酉の祭）
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
- 御田植祭
- 六月上旬
- 御射山社祭
- 八月二十七日
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Sengen Jinja, about 64 km to the south-east in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Kai Province. After that come Ichinomiya Nukisaki Jinja (71 km north-east) and Oyama Jinja (79 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/about/miyamori/ (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://db.go-nagano.net/topics_detail6/id=3053 (checked 2026-10-15)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.