Tradition guide
Shinto
Shinto sacred sites often center on kami, forests, mountains, water, gates, seasonal ritual, and shrine landscapes woven into local life.
51 sacred places share this lineage. Use the country and site-type filters to narrow in.
Atlas summary
Shinto sacred sites overview
Shinto sacred sites connect places through shared lineage, ritual use, memory, and pilgrimage practice across the Pilgrim Map atlas.
Use this page to compare country clusters, common place types, UNESCO-tagged landmarks, and the map distribution before exploring individual site pages.
| Coverage | 51 Shinto sacred places in the current atlas. |
|---|---|
| Country clusters | |
| Common place types | |
| UNESCO heritage | 2 UNESCO-tagged Shinto sites appear in this browse view. |
Dates connected to Shinto
Upcoming festivals, feast days, and pilgrimages tied to Shinto. Add any to your calendar, or see the full observance calendar.
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Search within Shinto sites
Showing 1-48 of 51 sites in this tradition guide
Akyū Ruins
Hara, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Six thousand years ago, the Jomon people gathered here to tend sacred fires beneath the gaze of Mount Tateshina....
Amanoiwato Shrine
Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
In a forested gorge in Kyushu's Takachiho region, pilgrims have gathered for centuries at the cave where Amaterasu, the sun goddess and ancestress of Japan's Imperial...
Atago Shrine (Atago Jinja)
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Atago Shrine crowns Mount Atago at 924 meters, the highest point surrounding Kyoto....
Atsuta Shrine
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Atsuta Shrine houses Kusanagi-no-tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword—one of three sacred objects that legitimize Japan's Imperial throne....
Fugoppe Cave
Yoichi, Hokkaidō, Japan
Carved into the walls of a small sea-facing cave near Yoichi, approximately 800 petroglyphs have puzzled scholars since their discovery in 1950....
Fushimi Inari-taisha
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Since 711 CE, pilgrims have climbed sacred Mount Inari through tunnels of vermilion torii gates—each one donated by someone whose prayers were answered, or who hoped they...
Futarasan Shrine (Nikkō Futarasan Jinja)
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Futarasan Shrine connects three sacred spaces in a vertical axis of worship: the main shrine at the base of Mount Nantai, the Chuguji by Lake Chuzenji, and the summit...
Goshono Site
Ichinohe, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
For forty generations, Jomon communities gathered at this river terrace to tend their dead and feed their fires....
Hiro Shrine
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
At the base of Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall, Hirou Shrine offers something rare: direct worship of natural phenomenon....
Hiyoshi Taisha
Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
At the foot of sacred Mount Hiei, Hiyoshi Taisha has served as spiritual guardian for over two thousand years....
Inasa Beach
Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
In Japanese mythology, a god descended from heaven at this beach, thrust his sword into the sand, and demanded that the ruler of the earthly realm cede power to the sun...
Ise Grand Shrine (Ise Jingū)
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Deep within a sacred forest in Mie Prefecture stands Ise Jingu, the most venerated Shinto shrine in Japan....
Ishi-no-Hoden, Himeji
Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
Rising from a sacred pool whose waters never dry, Ishi-no-Hoden appears to defy gravity itself....
Ishibutai Kofun, Asuka
Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan
In the Asuka valley, thirty granite megaliths weighing over 2,200 tons form Japan's largest known ancient burial chamber....
Izanagi Shinto Shrine, Awaji Island
Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
On Awaji Island—the first land formed in Japanese creation mythology—stands the shrine built over the tomb of the god who created Japan....
Izumo Taisha (Izumo Grand Shrine)
Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan
Each October by the lunar calendar, something extraordinary happens in Izumo. While the rest of Japan celebrates Kannazuki, the Month Without Gods, this corner of Shimane...
Kashima Shrine
Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
For over two millennia, Kashima Shrine has enshrined Takemikazuchi, the god of thunder and martial power born from the blood of Izanagi's sword....
Katori Shrine
Katori, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Katori Shrine enshrines Futsunushi, the deity of swords and victory who pacified Japan for the heavenly lineage....
Kibitsu Jinja Shinto Shrine, Okayama
Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan
Kibitsu Jinja preserves the origin story of Momotaro, the Peach Boy. Here Prince Kibitsuhiko defeated the demon Ura seventeen centuries ago, and the demon's severed head...
Kifune Shrine
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Nestled in the forested mountains north of Kyoto, Kifune Shrine has stood for over sixteen centuries as the dwelling place of Kuraokami, the dragon god who governs water....
Kirishima Shrine
Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Kirishima Shrine marks where Japanese civilization began - at least according to Shinto mythology....
Komakino Stone Circle
Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Four thousand years ago, Jomon communities leveled a hilltop and arranged nearly three thousand stones in a configuration so distinctive that archaeologists named it the...
Kotohira shrine, Kotohira, Japan
Kotohira, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
On sacred Mount Zozu rises Japan's most beloved guardian of sailors. For centuries, fishermen and naval crews, merchants and mariners have climbed up to 1,368 stone steps...
Kumano Hayatama Taisha
Shingū, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
Kumano Hayatama Taisha stands at the mouth of the Kumano River where it meets the sea, one of three grand shrines that have drawn pilgrims for over a millennium....
Kumano Hongū Taisha
Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
For over a thousand years, every path of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage has led here....
Kumano-Nachi Grand Shrine
Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan
One of the three great Kumano shrines, Kumano Nachi Taisha rises on Mt. Nachi above Japan's tallest waterfall....
Meiji Shrine
Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Rising from the heart of Tokyo, Meiji Shrine offers one of the world's most dramatic sacred thresholds....
Meoto Iwa
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
Two rocks rise from the sea at Futami, joined by a massive shimenawa rope weighing over one ton....
Mitsumine Jingu (Mitsumine Grand Shrine)
Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
High in the Chichibu mountains, Mitsumine Shrine guards nearly two thousand years of worship at a place where wolves once guided a lost prince to safety....
Miyajima Island
Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan
The vermilion torii gate rising from the Seto Inland Sea is one of Japan's most recognized images....
Mount Miwa
Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Mount Miwa does not house a deity. The mountain is the deity. This 467-meter peak in the Nara Basin represents the oldest stratum of Japanese spirituality, a form of...
Mt. Aso
Minamiaso, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
Mount Aso rises at the heart of Kyushu, its vast caldera containing farms, towns, and one of Japan's oldest shrines—all within the rim of a volcano that last erupted in...
Mt. Atago
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan
Rising 924 meters above Kyoto, Mount Atago has guarded the ancient capital from fire for over 1,300 years....
Mt. Nantai
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Mount Nantai rises 2,486 meters above the sacred landscape of Nikko, its near-perfect volcanic cone worshipped as the physical body of a kami since before recorded history....
Nikkō Tōshō-gū
Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Nikko Toshogu is the mausoleum and shrine of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the warlord who unified Japan and founded a dynasty that ruled for 300 years of peace....
Okinoshima Island, Japan
Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
In the waters between Japan and Korea lies an island so sacred that women may never set foot on it, men may visit only one day per year after nude ocean purification, and...
Ōmori Katsuyama Stone Circle
Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Three thousand years ago, the Jomon people positioned this stone circle with extraordinary precision: on the shortest day of the year, the setting sun descends directly...
Ōyu Stone Circles
Kazuno, Akita Prefecture, Japan
On a plateau above the Oyu River in northern Japan, two stone circles have watched the summer solstice sun set along the same axis for 4,000 years....
Sakafuneishi Site
Asuka, Nara Prefecture, Japan
In the hills of Asuka, Japan's ancient capital, water once flowed through a turtle-shaped stone basin in ceremonies conducted for Empress Saimei nearly fourteen centuries...
Sannai-Maruyama Site
Aomori, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
For seventeen centuries, the Jomon people lived at Sannai-Maruyama, cultivating chestnuts, trading jade across hundreds of kilometers, and building structures that still...
Sonohyan-utaki
Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
At the threshold of Shuri Castle, a coral limestone gate opens onto a sacred grove that cannot be entered....
Sumiyoshi-taisha
Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
When Izanagi purified himself in the sea after his journey to the underworld, three deities emerged from the waters—the Sumiyoshi Sanjin, gods of the sea who have...
Suwa-taisha
Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Suwa-taisha predates shrine architecture itself. Four shrines encircle Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, but their sacred objects are not artifacts—they are Mount Moriya and...
Tabata Stone Circle
Machida, Tokyo, Japan
Five minutes from a Tokyo train station, a ring of stones marks where Jomon peoples gathered three thousand years ago....
Takachiho Gorge
Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan
In this volcanic gorge where sheer basalt cliffs rise 80 meters above an emerald river, Japan's creation mythology takes physical form....
Togakushi Shrine
Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Mount Togakushi is literally the 'Hidden Door'—the cave entrance that the god Tajikarao threw across the heavens after pulling the sun goddess Amaterasu from her hiding...
Tongxiao Shinto Shrine
Tongxiao, Miaoli County, Tongxiao, Miaoli County, Taiwan
Built in 1937 as a State Shinto shrine to Amaterasu and a Japanese imperial prince, then converted in 1947 into a Nationalist Chinese martyrs' shrine honoring Koxinga and...
Usa Jingu
Usa, Oita Prefecture, Japan
In 749 CE, when Emperor Shōmu consecrated the Great Buddha at Tōdai-ji, a deity traveled from Kyushu to Nara for the ceremony—the first time a Shinto god participated in...
Showing 1-48 of 51 sites
Key questions
Shinto sacred-site questions
- What are Shinto sacred sites?
- Shinto sacred sites are places connected by shared lineage, practice, memory, ritual use, or pilgrimage tradition.
- Where can I find Shinto sacred sites?
- The strongest country clusters in this guide include Japan, Taiwan.
- What kinds of places are included?
- Common place types include shinto shrine, shrine, stone circle, archaeological site, cave, megalith.
- Can I map Shinto sacred sites?
- Yes. Compare country clusters and site types first, then open individual pages for coordinates, historical context, and visitor guidance.