Samukawa Shrine, Shinto shrine in Samukawa, Japan
Samukawa Shrine stands on a low plateau on the left bank of the Sagami River in Miyayama, Samukawa. Its worship hall has a broad dark grey roof with a curved gable edged in gold, a lower undulating roof with a golden crest, and a twisted straw rope hung with white paper streamers across the dark wooden facade. Round pillars frame the entrance porch, and a wide low flight of stone steps rises to the raised stone base.
The earliest written mentions of the site date from 727. In 923 it received status as the only Myojin-taisha of Sagami Province.
The shrine's name comes from the two kami it honours, Samukawa-hiko no mikoto and Samukawa-hime no mikoto, together called Samukawa Daimyōjin. On 19 September, the day before the main festival, archers on horseback perform yabusame in the riding ground west of the main hall, a rite recorded since the Kamakura period and now offered by the Takeda-school Dai Nippon Kyūba Kai.
The site sits five minutes on foot from Miyayama Station on the JR East Sagami Line and stays open around the clock. About two million people visit the grounds each year.
Beside the worship hall stands a replica of a hun-tian-yi armillary sphere, its base a compass dial and four dragons at the corners holding up the sky, following the old belief that dragons support the heavens.
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