Mikami Shrine

Mikami Shrine at the Foot of Mount Mikami

Mikami Shrine (御上神社, Mikami Jinja), at the western foot of Mount Mikami in Mikami, Yasu City, Shiga Prefecture, is a shrine whose late Kamakura-period main hall was designated a National Treasure in 1952, while its worship hall, romon gate and the main hall of the auxiliary Wakamiya Shrine are each designated an Important Cultural Property (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The deity is Ame-no-Mikage-no-Mikoto, and the shrine treats the mountain itself, 432 meters high and nicknamed Omi Fuji for its cone-like profile, as the body of the god (Mikami Shrine). The Kojiki, the eighth-century chronicle of early Japan, already mentions the deity as one served by the priests of Mikami in Omi Province.

Shrine tradition holds that the god was long worshipped on the mountain alone. In 718, acting on imperial command, Fujiwara no Fuhito built halls on the present site, then called Kayakihara, and moved the deity down to them. The tenth-century Engishiki ranks the shrine as a myojin taisha, one of the most eminent shrines of the realm, entitled to state offerings at the Tsukinami and Niiname rites (Mikami Shrine; the Agency's text writes the rank with different characters). In 1924 it was raised from a prefectural shrine to a national shrine of the middle grade.

The Precinct

Gate, worship hall and main hall stand in a single line from south to north. Facing the main hall, the auxiliary Wakamiya Shrine is on the left; on the right stand the small Daijingu sub-shrine and the auxiliary Sannomiya Shrine, a Muromachi-period one-bay nagare-style hall designated by Shiga Prefecture (Mikami Shrine precinct map and building notes).

West of the approach, in front of the gate, a storehouse keeps three black-lacquered portable shrines with gilt-bronze fittings, named Omiya, Wakamiya and Juzenji, from the early Muromachi period. Two carry ink inscriptions of 1450 under their base frames, and all three are designated by Yasu City (Mikami Shrine).

The main hall and worship hall share late Kamakura features, and an ink inscription in the upper storey of the gate places it around 1365. The Agency for Cultural Affairs values the four designated buildings together for keeping the look of a fourteenth-century shrine precinct. Each building is described on its own page.

Designation and Restoration

On April 5, 1899, the main hall, worship hall and gate were listed as Specially Protected Buildings under the Ancient Shrines and Temples Preservation Law, and the shrine used the state grant that came with the listing to dismantle and repair them (Mikami Shrine). The Wakamiya Shrine main hall was designated on January 19, 1931 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The main hall became a National Treasure on November 22, 1952; according to the shrine, it was the first shrine building in Shiga to receive that rank. The worship hall, the gate and the Wakamiya Shrine main hall remain Important Cultural Properties.

Beyond the buildings, a pair of wooden komainu guardian dogs is an Important Cultural Property (lent to the Kyoto National Museum, according to Yasu City), while a pair of mandala paintings on silk, a set of wooden sumo figures and the shrine archives are designated by Shiga Prefecture (Yasu City).

The Zuiki Festival

On the second Monday of October, a national holiday, the shrine holds its autumn festival, the Zuiki Matsuri. Portable shrines built from taro stalks, called zuiki, are presented to the god, and children wrestle in sumo bouts offered during the Shibahara rite (Mikami Shrine).

Because it keeps the organization and rites of a medieval village shrine guild, the festival was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2005 (Mikami Shrine; Yasu City).

Visiting Mikami Shrine

The grounds are open for worship 24 hours a day, and there is no admission charge (Mikami Shrine; Yasu Tourism Association). The office selling amulets and talismans is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and sometimes closes earlier.

The interior of the main hall is normally closed. On August 22, 2026, Yasu City's board of education and the shrine held a special viewing of the interior for about 30 people chosen by lottery (Mikami Shrine); watch the shrine's and the city's announcements for future opportunities.

On photography, the shrine lets worshippers take their own pictures during prayer ceremonies, and charges a site fee when a hired photographer is brought for commercial work (Mikami Shrine).

By train, get off at JR Yasu Station on the Biwako Line and take a Shiga Kotsu bus bound for Kitayamadai Danchi from the south exit; the ride to the Mikami Jinja-mae stop takes about 10 minutes, followed by a walk of about 3 minutes. By car, take Route 8 from the Ritto or Ryuo interchange on the Meishin Expressway; parking for about 80 cars is near the Mikami Jinja-mae intersection (Mikami Shrine).