Mutsu Province Ichinomiya
Tsutsukowake Jinja (Baba)
都々古別神社（馬場）
Tsutsukowake Jinja (Baba) is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Mutsu Province, in present-day Fukushima. It has no car park of its own. Without a car, the local authority gives 2 routes from a station (on foot, by taxi), one of them a walk of 17 min; the station names are listed below. We found 7 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Tsutsukowake Jinja (Yatsuki), 4.1 km to the south in a straight line.
Getting there
福島県東白川郡棚倉町棚倉字馬場39
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
- This point is not the shrine. The address resolves only as far as 福島県棚倉町大字棚倉馬場, so this is that district's centre. Use the phone number or the address instead
- Address
How to rent and drive a car in Japan →
By train and bus
- From 磐城棚倉駅JR水郡線およびJRバス関東
- On foot, 17 min.
- From 磐城棚倉駅JR水郡線およびJRバス関東
- By taxi, 4 min.
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
【最寄り駅】JR水郡線およびJRバス関東 磐城棚倉駅（いわきたなぐらえき）下車→徒歩17分（約1.1km）タクシー4分
Taken from the local authority (都々古別神社（馬場）｜棚倉町, 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 no car park of its own.
神社の駐車場はなし。棚倉町役場北側の駐車場を利用（徒歩約6分）
The note above is in Japanese; it usually records dates when the car park is closed, and the fee.
Visiting the 4 ichinomiya in Fukushima in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- According to tradition, it began when Yamato Takeru enshrined a halberd on Mount Tatehoko while pacifying the northeast.
- Moved
- In 807, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro moved it to the site of the later Tanagura Castle and built a shrine hall.
- Buildings
- The main hall is thought to have been built by Satake Yoshinobu in 1594.
- Moved
- In 1625, Niwa Nagashige, lord of Tanagura, moved it to the present site when building Tanagura Castle on shogunate orders.
Summarised from the local authority (馬場都々古別神社 | 町まるごと博物館 | 棚倉町公式ホームページ, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Ajisukitakahikone-no-Mikoto 味耜高彦根命 5 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
- Yamatotakeru-no-Mikoto 日本武尊 5 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
Tanagura Town says the shrine began when Yamato Takeru, pacifying the north-east, enshrined Ajisukitakahikone, a god of farming, as the local guardian; and that when Sakanoue no Tamuramaro moved it to its present site in 807, Yamato Takeru was enshrined with him.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the prefectural shrine office or local authority.
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 都々古別神社本殿
-
Important Cultural Property
三間社流造、銅板葺
designated 2014-12-10 · Momoyama period - 赤絲威鎧残闕
- Important Cultural Property
- 銅鉢
- Important Cultural Property
- 長覆輪太刀〈中身無銘／〉
- Important Cultural Property
- 長覆輪太刀〈中身無銘／〉
- Important Cultural Property
- 都々古別神社の御田植
- Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (folk performing arts)
- 都々古別神社の御田植
- Intangible Folk Cultural Property selected for recording (folk performing arts)
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
例大祭（9月上旬） 例大祭
source
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Tsutsukowake Jinja (Yatsuki), about 4.1 km to the south in a straight line, in the same province. After that come Iwatsutsukowake Jinja (14 km north-east) and Isasumi Jinja (67 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
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.
Tanagura Town calls it “an old shrine that has been revered as the ichinomiya of Mutsu”, and says it was recorded in 927 as “Tsutsukowake Jinja, a single myōjin taisha of Shirakawa District in Ou Province”. The Tsutsukowake Jinja at Yatsuki rests on the same Engishiki entry, and the town has not decided between the two.
- https://www.town.tanagura.fukushima.jp/machimarugotohakubutsukan/fushigisekaihenoiriguchiheyokoso/page001139.html (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 Mutsu Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Mutsu Province (Tōsandō)
- Prefecture
- Fukushima
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kokuhei Chūsha
Sources
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.