Tosa Province Ichinomiya
Tosa Jinja
土佐神社
Tosa Jinja is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Tosa Province, in present-day Kochi. It has a car park (about 60 spaces), free. Opening hours end at 16:30 (hall-viewing desk). Without a car, a local tourism body gives 2 routes from a station (on foot, by bus), one of them a walk of 20 min; the station names are listed below. We found 3 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Kami Ichinomiya Oawa Jinja, 84 km to the north-east in a straight line.
Getting there
高知県高知市一宮しなね２丁目１６−１
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
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By train and bus
- From 一宮駅JR土讃線
- On foot, 20 min.
- From 高知駅JR土讃線
- By bus, 5 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
JR土讃線一宮駅下車、徒歩20分／JR土讃線高知駅からバス（約30分）一宮神社前下車、徒歩5分
Taken from a local tourism body (土佐神社（しなね様）｜高知県観光情報 Kochi Trip, 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 60 spaces), free.
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 100 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60台・大型5台
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 (hall-viewing desk).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
8:30-16:30（社殿見学。祭典・結婚式時は拝観不可の場合あり）
History in brief
- Buildings
- The present buildings were rebuilt in 1570 by Chosokabe Motochika.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (土佐神社 社殿, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Ajisukitakahikone-no-Mikoto 味鋤高彦根神（一言主神） 5 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
Kōchi Prefecture's tourism site gives the deity as Ajisukitakahikone-no-Kami (Hitokotonushi-no-Kami).
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the prefectural shrine office or local authority.
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 土佐神社本殿、幣殿及び拝殿
-
Important Cultural Property
桁行五間、梁間四間、一重、入母屋造、向拝一間、こけら葺
designated 1904-08-29 · late Muromachi period - 土佐神社楼門
-
Important Cultural Property
三間一戸楼門、入母屋造、銅板葺
designated 1982-02-16 · early Edo period - 土佐神社鼓楼
-
Important Cultural Property
桁行三間、梁間二間、袴腰付、入母屋造、こけら葺
designated 1934-01-30 · early Edo period
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
8月24日・25日 しなね祭
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
- 斎籠祭（いごもりさい）
- 3月11日・12日・13日
- 秋祭
- 10月8日
- 射初祭（いぞめさい）
- 1月中旬頃（不定）
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Kami Ichinomiya Oawa Jinja, about 84 km to the north-east in a straight line, in Awa Province (Tokushima) (listed here for reference). After that come Tamura Jinja (88 km north-east) and Oyamazumi Jinja (90 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 Tosa Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Tosa Province (Nankaidō)
- Prefecture
- Kochi
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kokuhei Chūsha
Sources
- https://kochi-tabi.jp/search_spot_sightseeing.html?id=891 (checked 2026-09-09)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.