Inaba Province Ichinomiya
Ube Jinja
宇倍神社
Ube Jinja is the ichinomiya — the leading shrine — of the former Inaba Province, in present-day Tottori. It has a car park (about 117 spaces), free. Opening hours end at 17:00 (charm counter). Its principal annual festival (reisai) falls on April 21 every year. We found 4 entries for the shrine in Japan’s national database of designated cultural properties. The nearest other ichinomiya is Shizuri Jinja, 33 km to the west in a straight line.
Getting there
鳥取県鳥取市国府町宮下 651
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
How to rent and drive a car in Japan →
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By train and bus
The source, word for word (bus stop names included):
路線バス（「宮ノ下」下車）又は、タクシーをご利用ください。
Taken from the shrine's own website (宇倍神社 公式サイト 交通アクセス, 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 117 spaces), free.
This routes you to the car park, not to the hall. From this car park to the hall is about 310 m in a straight line (the walk is longer).
普通車117台・バス6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 17:00 (charm counter).
The full note from the source, in Japanese:
授与所 9:00-17:00（ご祈祷は16:00まで）。御朱印も授与所で扱う※鳥取市観光サイトは問い合わせ時間 9:00-18:00 と記載しており食い違いがある
Closing times of every ichinomiya, earliest first →
Visiting the 2 ichinomiya in Tottori in one day? Work out an order that reaches each office before it closes →
History in brief
- Founding
- According to tradition, the shrine was founded in 648 (Taika 4) under Emperor Kotoku.
- Buildings
- The present shrine buildings were completed in Meiji 31.
- History
- In Meiji 32, it became the first shrine in Japan to appear on a banknote (the five-yen note), together with an image of its deity.
Summarised from the shrine's own website (宇倍神社 由緒, checked 2026-10-08). Traditions are given as the shrine tells them, not as established history.
Enshrined deities
- Takenochinosukune-no-Mikoto 武内宿禰命 4 ichinomiya enshrine this deity →
The shrine's website says its deity, Takenouchi no Sukune, left a pair of shoes on Kamekane-oka hill in Inaba in the third month of the fifty-fifth year of Emperor Nintoku and passed away aged over 360.
Our English summary of the Japanese description. Spelling as given by the shrine's own website.
Nationally designated cultural properties
- 宇倍神社拝殿
- Registered Tangible Cultural Property (religious building)
- 宇倍神社本殿
- Registered Tangible Cultural Property (religious building)
- 宇倍神社神門
- Registered Tangible Cultural Property (religious building)
- 宇倍神社透塀
- Registered Tangible Cultural Property (religious building)
Source: the national register. All of them together →
Festivals
- Principal annual festival
-
4月21日 例祭・御幸祭
source
Other festivals and rituals
- 宵宮
- 4月20日
- 麒麟獅子舞
- 4月21日
- とんど祭
- 1月14日
- 秋祭
- 9月21日
- 月次祭
- 毎月1日（1月除く）
Nearest ichinomiya
The closest is Shizuri Jinja, about 33 km to the west in a straight line, the ichinomiya of Hoki Province. After that come Nakayama Jinja (50 km south-west) and Iwa Jinja (52 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 Inaba Province page.
Historical rank
- Province
- Inaba Province (San'indō)
- Prefecture
- Tottori
- Engishiki (927)
- Myōjin Taisha
- Former state rank (1871–1946)
- Kokuhei Chūsha
Sources
- https://www.torican.jp/spot/detail_2816.html (checked 2026-09-09)
- https://www.ubejinja.or.jp/new-about/ (checked 2026-09-10)
- https://www.ubejinja.or.jp/new-sampai/ (checked 2026-09-24)
How we handle spellings, festival selection, former ranks and map accuracy is set out once on the About page.