Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya
諏訪大社下社春宮
Suwa Taisha Shimosha Harumiya 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 50 spaces), free (charged over New Year). Opening hours end at 16:30 (charm counter). Without a car, a local tourism body gives 1 route from a station; the station names are listed below. We found 2 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Oyama Jinja (Mine Honsha), 69 km to the north-west in a straight line.
Getting there
長野県諏訪郡下諏訪町193
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 諏訪大社下社春宮. 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 下諏訪駅JR中央本線
- 15 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
岡谷ICから 4km 15分 諏訪ICから 10km 25分 JR中央本線 下諏訪駅下車 15分
Taken from a local tourism body (諏訪大社下社春宮 | Go NAGANO 長野県公式観光サイト, 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 50 spaces), free (charged over New Year).
The fee in the source’s own words: 「諏訪大社下社春宮 駐車場 ｜ 普通 50台 ｜ 無料 ｜ 通年」 (source, checked 2026-10-15).
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 160 m in a straight line (the walk is longer). The location is taken from OpenStreetMap and has not been checked on the ground.
普通車50台。通年無料（下諏訪町地域開発公社の臨時駐車場一覧 2024-2025）。2025-2026の年末年始は有料で、12月31日22:00〜1月5日は1回1,000円、1月10〜12日は1回500円（現金不可）だった
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:
8:30-16:30（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
- Buildings
- The offering and worship hall, built by Shibamiya (Ito) Chozaemon, was begun after Akimiya's but finished a year earlier, in An'ei 9.
- History
- The Geba Bridge is said to date from the Muromachi period; repaired in the 1730s, it is the oldest structure of the Lower Shrine.
- History
- The straight 800 m road from the shrine was once its approach and a riding ground where the Kanasashi priestly clan and other warriors competed in mounted archery.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (諏訪大社 下社春宮, 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 →
- Yasakatome-no-Kami 八坂刀売神 3 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Kotoshironushi-Mikoto 八重事代主神 6 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
The shrine treats a cedar tree as the sacred body (go-shintai) of the Spring Shrine, rather than a building.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. 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
-
八月一日 遷座祭（お舟祭）
source
The shrine itself does not call this its 例祭. We placed its heaviest festival here; that is our judgement, not the shrine's wording.
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
- 遷座祭
- 二月一日
- 筒粥神事
- 一月十五日
- あやめ奉献奉告祭
- 六月下旬
- 御射山社祭
- 八月二十六日・二十七日
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Oyama Jinja (Mine Honsha), about 69 km to the north-west in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Ecchu Province. After that come Ichinomiya Nukisaki Jinja (72 km east) and Sengen Jinja (74 km south-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 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://shimosuwaonsen.jp/2024/12/19079/ (checked 2026-10-15)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.