Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America, Shinto shrine in Granite Falls, Washington, United States

The Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America stood in Granite Falls, Washington, from 2001 to 2023 as a branch of Tsubaki Ōkami Yashiro in Japan. Its grounds held an unpainted wooden torii with a braided straw rope and white zigzag paper streamers, a stone statue on a pedestal, a stone lantern, and a shrine building with a gabled roof and a purple and white curtain. A second torii with diamond marks on its pillars stood by a paved area near a dark stone monument.

The shrine opened in 1986 in Stockton, California, as the first Shinto shrine built on the US mainland after World War II. In 2001 it moved to Granite Falls, Washington, where it was rebuilt beside Kannagara Shrine, founded in 1992 by aikido practitioner Lawrence Koichi Barrish. Barrish, who became its negi, retired for health reasons in 2023, and the shrine was closed; its kami were transferred to Shin Mei Spiritual Centre near Victoria, British Columbia.

The shrine shows Japanese traditions in everyday practice, visible in the purification ritual at the entrance and how visitors move through the space. It serves as a place where Japanese spiritual customs are actively maintained and shared with the broader community.

Visitors should know this is an active spiritual site with certain behavioral customs, such as removing shoes in specific areas. It helps to arrive early and allow time to explore the grounds, especially on nice days when outdoor areas are most welcoming.

The shrine's Guji is Ann Evans, whose translations of norito prayers are widely used in Western Shinto communities. The site enshrines five kami, including Sarutahiko-no-Ōkami and his wife Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, alongside Amaterasu Ōmikami and America Kokudo Kunitama-no-Kami, protector of the North American continent.