Samukawa Shrine: Hatsumode 2027, Happo-yoke Prayers and How to Get There

Kanagawa · Samukawa · Sagami Line · hatsumode 2027

By Nobu · sources checked 17 October 2026 · a researched guide · Sources at the end

Samukawa Shrine, the Ichinomiya of old Sagami Province, describes its deity as the country’s only guardian of happo-yoke, protection against misfortune from every direction. Prayers start at ¥3,000; you apply at the reception hall on the day (the New Year 2024 notice said same-day reception only). New Year 2027 hours were not posted on 17 October 2026, so the 2024 and 2026 arrangements below are labelled examples. Take the JR Sagami Line to Miyayama, not Samukawa.

Unless noted otherwise, the information below comes from the shrine (samukawajinjya.jp, with “jya”) and its newsletter Sagami, and train times from JR East’s October 2026 timetable. Removed New Year notices were read in the Internet Archive and carry their year.

What Samukawa Shrine is

The shrine enshrines two deities, Samukawa-hiko-no-mikoto and Samukawa-hime-no-mikoto, worshipped together as Samukawa Daimyojin. It is called the Ichinomiya, the leading shrine, of Sagami Province. Records the shrine cites place offerings in the reign of Emperor Yuryaku (456–479) and a shrine building in 727, and on that basis it gives its age as “at least about 1,600 years”. In the Engishiki register of 927 it is the only shrine of the highest rank, myojin taisha, among Sagami’s thirteen.

In Japanese the shrine describes itself as zenkoku yuitsu no happo-yoke no shugoshin (全国唯一の八方除の守護神), “the only guardian deity of happo-yoke in the whole country”. Happo means every direction. The happo-yoke page defines it as a divine virtue of Samukawa Daimyojin, found nowhere else in the country, that removes all misfortune arising from the land, the layout of a house, directions and the choice of days, and brings success to family business and good fortune. The slogan reads: “great troubles made small, small troubles made none, and good things made as large as possible.”

The main buildings face south-west, which is unusual, and the shrine stands south-west of Edo, on what was the city’s ura-kimon, the “back demon gate” direction. Minamoto no Yoritomo, Takeda Shingen and the Tokugawa shoguns are among its recorded worshippers. A helmet that Shingen is said to have offered in October 1569 is kept here.

Samukawa Town’s website puts the shrine’s visitors at about 2 million a year (page updated 1 June 2026). The happo-yoke page says people come “from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south” for the happo-yoke prayer.

Happo-yoke prayers: how they work for visitors

A prayer (kigan) starts with a conversation at reception: a priest asks what is worrying you or what you hope for (a move, a trip, a business, your family) and chooses the prayer to match. The happo-yoke page adds that first-timers are sometimes surprised to be talking with a priest at all.

The fees are minimums (以上). Each level is limited in number, and the prayer page warns that at busy times “such as year-end and New Year” some may not be available.

A wish written in simple Japanese on a note before you go keeps the talk at reception short.

Hatsumode 2027: what is posted so far

New Year 2027 details (prayer hours, parking, buses, traffic control) were not listed on samukawajinjya.jp when checked on 17 October 2026. The standing festival calendar lists the New Year rites every year, and the October 2026 newsletter adds the December dates:

The January 2024 and January 2026 newsletters name an Aomori nebuta artist as the maker; the 2024 nebuta was 9.0 m wide and 2.7 m high with 500 LED bulbs. For the 2025 season it went up and was first lit at 16:30 on Friday 20 December 2024; in the 2026 season it was lit from sunset to 22:00, all day on 1–3 January, and until 19:00 from 1 February. For what else is on that month, see our Japan in December 2026 guide.

2026 example and 2024 example: New Year hours

In 2023 and 2025 the shrine posted its New Year hours in early December and later removed them. I found no archived copy of its notice on 2026 prayer hours (dated 3 December 2025), so the prayer times below are the 2024 example; the amulet office times are the 2026 example.

In 2026 the special New Year amulets went on sale from 1 January only, could not be mailed, and 15 kinds had sold out by 18 January. Over the 2026 New Year the shrine also paused online prayer applications from 28 November 2025 to 4 February 2026 and closed the doll-offering hall from 1 to 5 January.

Which day and time should you go?

The shrine’s 1 January 2024 newsletter named the crowded days: the first three days of January, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays in January and February, and taian days, the lucky days of the old six-day calendar, and asked visitors to avoid them as far as possible. I found no official hourly queue-time figures.

A weekday from 4 January that is not a taian day avoids the dates flagged as crowded in the shrine’s 2024 newsletter. For the midnight drum, arrive on 31 December and expect crowds at the turn of the year. Read the late-train note below first: the 2025–26 all-night service did not include the Sagami or Tokaido lines, the last Tokyo-bound connection on the October 2026 timetable leaves Miyayama at 23:09, and the 2026–27 New Year timetable had not been published on 17 October 2026. For a late-night visit in winter, disposable hand warmers (Amazon Japan) are worth carrying.

Getting there

The shrine is on the JR Sagami Line between Chigasaki on the Tokaido Line and Ebina on the Odakyu and Sotetsu lines. Get off at Miyayama; it is 5 minutes on foot. The access notice adds, in bold, that the nearest station is not Samukawa Station.

A sample Saturday or holiday trip from Tokyo

These trains are on JR East’s Saturday and holiday timetable for October 2026. JR East often runs special timetables over New Year (see our New Year closures guide for what else changes), so check again in late December.

The 7:46 from Tokyo reaches Chigasaki at 8:47, three minutes before the same Sagami Line train; that change is too tight to rely on. For Shinjuku on the way back, the Shonan-Shinjuku Line special rapid leaves Chigasaki at 13:23 and reaches Shinjuku at 14:19.

By bus

The route bus from Ebina Station (East Exit, stop 2) towards Samukawa Station takes about 20 minutes to Samukawa Jinja Sando, a 5 min walk from the shrine. It is infrequent: 10 round trips on weekdays and 6 on weekends and holidays, as of April 2026. Over the 2025–26 season it ran a detour from 27 December to 29 March, with the Sando stop moved and two shrine-area stops skipped.

2026 example, direct bus: Sotetsu Bus ran a non-stop bus from Ebina Station (East Exit terminal, stop 0) to the shrine’s Sanshuden on 1–3 January 2026, daytime only, with no overnight service on New Year’s Eve. Buses left Ebina from 8:00 to 16:00, every 10 minutes from 10:00, and the shrine from 8:40 to 17:00. The adult fare was ¥500. No 2027 notice had been posted by 17 October 2026.

Around the precinct

Across the road from the precinct is Miyayama Shrine, a subsidiary shrine that brought together seven small local shrines. Chinju-no-mori Koyo, by the precinct, has souvenirs on the ground floor and a restaurant upstairs.

The Shinen garden: prayer recipients only, closed in winter

Kantakeyama Shinen is the garden behind the main hall, opened in August 2009 around Naniwa-no-koike, a spring directly behind the main sanctuary that is linked with the shrine’s origins; on 2 January its water is drawn for the Tsuina-sai. Entry is limited to people who have received a prayer.

The garden is closed at New Year: it shuts after 13 December and, in the 2025–26 winter, was planned to reopen on 1 March. The photography rules, written for commercial shoots, list the garden among the places where photography is not allowed.

Other dates through 2027 (standing festival calendar)

Etiquette, amulets and practical notes

For the basics of a New Year visit, purification, offering and the bow-clap-bow, see our hatsumode guide. If you draw a fortune slip, our omikuji guide explains the grades and what to do with a bad one. For bowing, clapping and the water basin, see shrine and temple etiquette.

• Amulets: the amulet office is normally open 8:00–16:30. The amulet page lists a happo-yoke ofuda talisman at ¥1,000, happo-yoke good-luck amulets in pouch and card versions, five colours each, at ¥1,000, a small happo-yoke amulet at ¥500 and a travel-safety amulet at ¥1,000.
• Goshuin: the right side of the stamp carries the shrine crest and the words 八方除. The offering is up to you. At New Year only pre-written slips are given, and none are mailed.
• Old amulets: return them at the Nosatsuden, the hall for returned talismans.
• Photos: the photography rules of 10 October 2026 are written for commercial shoots, which need a permit on the day. They bar photography inside the main sanctuary, the kyakuden, the Shinen garden and the Sanshuden, and ask that no one hold a spot near the offering box for long.
• The approach: after trees fell on the approach in July 2026, the shrine asked people to watch overhead, especially in strong wind or after heavy rain.

Plan around these limits

• Driving in January: the 2026 notice warned that the 5-minute drive from the interchange could take about an hour at busy times, and the access notice asks weekend and holiday visitors to use public transport.
• The garden in winter: closed after 13 December until early March.
• English: no English-language prayer service is stated on the shrine’s pages.
• The 0:00 rites: on the October 2026 timetable the last Tokyo-bound connection leaves Miyayama at 23:09, before the rites begin; check the 2026–27 New Year timetable in December.

Questions travellers ask