Kashita Shrine on the old Kumano road
Kashita Shrine (加支多神社, Kashita Jinja) is a Shinto shrine in Tsuruhara, Izumisano City, Osaka Prefecture, whose main hall and combined worship and offering hall, both rebuilt in 1915, and its small shinsensho sanctuary of 1928 were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 15, 2024.
The shrine is counted among the shikinaisha, the shrines named in the tenth-century Engishiki register of deities, and Izumisano City's official tourism site credits it with more than 1,200 years of history. Its principal deity is Hondawake no Mikoto, the deified Emperor Ōjin worshipped as Hachiman, alongside Ichikishimahime no Mikoto and Ame no Koyane no Mikoto. Hachiman's old role as a god of archery gives Kashita Shrine a second name, Yumiya Hachiman Kashita Jinja, the Hachiman of bow and arrow. In January, during the Tōka Ebisu festival, locals call it Kashita Ebisu or Tsuruhara Ebisu. The shrine's name is said to come from an old local place name written 垣田 (also 貝田).
The Agency for Cultural Affairs locates the precinct on the left bank near the mouth of the Mide River, beside the Kumano Kaidō, the pilgrimage road that ran south toward the Kumano shrines. Today it stands among houses a short walk from Tsuruhara Station.
Rebuilding Kashita Shrine after the shrine mergers
The present buildings date from the Taishō and early Shōwa eras. According to the Agency's report on the 2024 registrations, the main hall was rebuilt after neighboring village shrines were merged into Kashita Shrine, part of the shrine consolidation policy that the government pushed across Japan from the late Meiji period.
All three buildings were registered in the 107th round under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation: the main hall as number 27-0914, the worship hall and offering hall as 27-0915 and the shinsensho as 27-0916.
Their sizes could hardly differ more. The Agency's database gives building areas of 82 square meters for the worship hall and offering hall, 6.4 square meters for the main hall and 3.3 square meters for the shinsensho. The heavy tiled roof of the worship hall gives the grounds their mass; the two small sanctuaries stand quietly behind it.
How the Kashita Shrine precinct is laid out
Walk up the approach and the worship hall faces you, turned to the south from the middle of the precinct. The offering hall runs north from its back, and beyond that the main hall stands on a raised base, also facing south. The shinsensho sits just west of the main hall but turns east, presenting its front to the main hall.
So three buildings line up from south to north, and the smallest stands to one side of the sanctuary. Keeping that order in mind makes it easier to find the two buildings hidden behind the worship hall.
Izumisano's tourism site lists other features of the grounds: subsidiary shrines to Ebisu, Daikoku, the Sai no Kami and Konjin, a memorial stone known as the Seichūhi, and a kyūdō archery range. Because the main hall and shinsensho stand behind the worship and offering halls, they are hard to see from the front of the approach; each building's own page explains where to look.
Visiting Kashita Shrine
The grounds of Kashita Shrine are open for worship at any time, and there is no admission charge. Izumisano's official tourism site says the amulet office is staffed from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., though at times no one may be there. Goshuin stamps are issued only on the 1st and 15th of each month and on weekends and public holidays.
The nearest station is Tsuruhara on the Nankai Main Line, about 300 meters away, a walk of 4 to 5 minutes. The shrine gives its own address as 1834-2 Tsuruhara, a different lot number from the one in the national register (1965 Tsuruhara), so search a map app for the shrine's name or its own address. There is a free parking lot for worshippers.
Festival days are crowded. Tōka Ebisu, from January 9 to 11, brings worshippers praying for good business, and at the autumn grand festival in October four danjiri carts from the neighborhood are dedicated to the shrine. To look at the buildings in peace, pick another day. Kashita Shrine can be reached by phone at +81-72-462-1506.
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Kashita Shrine Main Hall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015043
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Kashita Shrine Worship Hall and Offering Hall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015044
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Kashita Shrine Shinsensho
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015045
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kashita Shrine Worship Hall and Offering Hall
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/593642
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Council for Cultural Affairs report on new Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Buildings), March 15, 2024, appendix (PDF, Japanese)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/94020801_03.pdf
- Izumisano City official tourism site (Kokotabi Izumisano): Kashita Shrine
- https://visitizumisanojpn.com/en/kashita-shrine/
Last verified: 2026.10.03
Basic Information
| Name | Kashita Shrine |
|---|---|
| Location | 1965 Tsuruhara, Izumisano City, Osaka Prefecture |
| Owner | Religious Corporation Kashita Shrine |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (3) |
| Coordinates | 34.42615, 135.34230 |
