In the town of Aibetsu, near the northeastern edge of Hokkaido’s Kamikawa Basin, stands Aibetsu Shrine, a Shinto sanctuary whose history reaches back to the final decades of the nineteenth century. Established by settlers who had traveled north from Wakayama Prefecture, the shrine grew from a small place of worship on an agricultural settlement into an important religious institution for the developing community. Its history reflects the movement of people between Japan’s main islands and Hokkaido during the Meiji period, when natural disasters, agricultural hardship, and government-sponsored settlement encouraged families to establish new lives far from their ancestral homes.
The land surrounding Aibetsu had a history long before the arrival of these settlers. The town’s name is generally traced to the Ainu language, and local archaeological discoveries and traditions preserve evidence of the area’s earlier Indigenous history. During the Meiji period, however, the Japanese government accelerated the colonization of Hokkaido, surveying land, constructing roads, and encouraging agricultural settlements. These developments transformed the Kamikawa region and created the conditions under which Aibetsu Shrine would eventually emerge.
The immediate circumstances behind the shrine’s establishment began hundreds of miles to the south, in Wakayama Prefecture. Devastating flooding had struck the Kii Peninsula in August 1889, destroying homes, farmland, and entire communities. Four years later, on August 18, 1893, another severe flood struck the Tonoda River basin. A natural dam formed by an earlier landslide collapsed, sending floodwaters downstream and inflicting further damage on settlements that were still recovering from the previous disaster. According to subsequent regional histories, the flooding in the Kamitonda area resulted in hundreds of deaths and the destruction or loss of numerous houses.
For some residents of southern Wakayama, the repeated disasters made the prospect of relocation increasingly attractive. Hokkaido offered opportunities to acquire agricultural land, although migration also meant leaving familiar communities and confronting a colder climate and difficult working conditions.
Among those who became interested in establishing a new settlement were Kondō Shinjūrō and Okamoto Shōtarō, two men from Tanabe who would organize the agricultural enterprise known as Kanatomi Farm. Their plans brought together the government’s interest in developing Hokkaido and the urgent needs of families struggling to recover from agricultural devastation.
The Founding of Kanatomi Farm in 1894
The surviving documents associated with Kanatomi Farm provide an unusually detailed record of the circumstances that eventually produced Aibetsu Shrine. In June 1894, Kondō and Okamoto submitted a petition seeking approval of the farm’s regulations to the governor of Wakayama Prefecture. Dated June 25, the document identified the two men, provided their addresses in Tanabe, and formally requested authorization for their proposed settlement in the Aibetsu wilderness.
Another petition addressed to the governor of Hokkaido requested the lease of land for the agricultural project. The farm’s founding statement explained that its organizers hoped both to contribute to the development of Hokkaido and to provide opportunities for people facing economic hardship in their home communities. These original documents, reproduced in later historical research, demonstrate that the settlement was conceived as an organized agricultural undertaking rather than an informal movement of individual families.
Kondō and Okamoto invested considerable resources in the undertaking, reportedly committing approximately 25,000 yen to its development. The name Kanatomi combined characters from their respective family business names, Koganeya and Tomidaya. Their representatives began preparing the land in 1894, hiring workers, obtaining agricultural equipment, and constructing the buildings necessary to receive the first settlers.
Recruitment initially proved difficult. Even families whose homes and farms had suffered severe damage were reluctant to abandon their ancestral communities and move to an unfamiliar northern environment. Nevertheless, by March 1895, approximately seventy households comprising 393 prospective settlers had been assembled in southern Wakayama, although historical research indicates that not every member of this original group ultimately settled at Kanatomi Farm.
In April, the migration began, with families traveling through Japan before making their way into the interior of Hokkaido. Their arrival formed part of a wider movement into the Aibetsu region. According to the town’s official history, 175 settler households from Wakayama, Gifu, and Aichi prefectures participated in the agricultural settlement of the area during 1895. Two years later, Aibetsu Village was formally established.
The First Sanctuary at Kanatomi Farm in 1895
Religious life accompanied the settlers into their new surroundings. According to the Hokkaido Shrine Association, Aibetsu Shrine originated in 1895 when a small sanctuary was constructed at Kanatomi Farm. A detailed historical study of the Wakayama migration identifies May 25, 1895, as the date of its establishment and records that the settlers enshrined Kumano Gongen, reflecting the religious traditions of their home region.
The choice of Kumano worship was particularly significant for people who had emigrated from southern Wakayama. The Kumano region had been an important center of Japanese religious life for centuries, and its shrines maintained extensive religious and cultural connections with communities throughout the Kii Peninsula. By establishing a sanctuary dedicated to Kumano Gongen, the new settlers maintained a connection with religious practices that had been familiar to them before their departure.
The settlers’ early experiences were preserved in documents such as Shoyōroku, a diary kept by an early resident of Kanatomi Farm. Excerpts subsequently reproduced in the 1969 Aibetsu Town History describe the arrival of a settler’s household, the notifications submitted to local authorities, and the beginning of agricultural work in the spring of 1895. These records offer evidence of how the new community began organizing its domestic, agricultural, and administrative affairs.
The work of establishing the farm was physically demanding. The settlers cleared vegetation, prepared agricultural plots, erected housing, and gradually introduced crops suited to Hokkaido’s growing conditions. Historical accounts of Kanatomi Farm record that the first settlers cultivated beans, millet, hemp, potatoes, and wheat, while rice cultivation became increasingly important as agricultural development progressed.
According to the historical account of the shrine’s founding, the settlers designated the first and fifteenth days of each month as days of rest amid their demanding agricultural work. Their small sanctuary provided a place where religious observance could remain part of daily life despite the considerable distance separating them from Wakayama.
The Flood of 1898 and the Construction of Kumano Shrine
Although the migration to Hokkaido had been encouraged partly by the devastating floods in Wakayama, the settlers soon encountered similar dangers in their new home. Kanatomi Farm occupied land near the confluence of the Ishikari and Aibetsu rivers, where fertile alluvial ground was attractive for agriculture but vulnerable to flooding.
In September 1898, heavy rainfall caused severe flooding along the Ishikari River and its tributaries. The resulting damage affected the developing settlement, including the area around its early administrative buildings. Residents subsequently began moving parts of the community to safer ground as they considered the settlement’s long-term development. Historical maps dating from approximately 1898 identify the original Kanatomi Farm area and illustrate the importance of the two rivers to its location.
The shrine’s history followed this geographical transformation. In 1909, a new shrine building was erected on Hōraizan, the elevated site that would become its permanent home. The building was named Kumano Shrine and was established as the ujigami sanctuary of Aibetsu Village, serving as a religious center for the growing local community.
The relocation was an important development in the shrine’s history. What had begun as a small sanctuary associated with a particular farm became a shrine serving the wider village, reflecting the expansion of Aibetsu beyond the settlement established by its original founders. The choice of higher ground also connected the shrine’s subsequent history to the community’s experience of flooding and its efforts to establish a more secure settlement.
The Sacred Connection to Tōkei Shrine in Wakayama
Aibetsu Shrine entered another important period of development in 1915, when it received a bunrei, or divided sacred spirit, from Tōkei Shrine in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture. Following this transfer, the former Kumano Shrine adopted the name Aibetsu Shrine, formalizing its religious connection with the shrine in the region from which many of its original settlers had emigrated.
Tōkei Shrine occupies an important place in the history of Kumano worship. Its institutional traditions associate its origins with the early introduction of Kumano deities to Tanabe, although the earliest foundation dates belong to religious tradition rather than independently established chronology. During the medieval period, Tōkei developed as a significant religious institution connected to the Kumano pilgrimage routes and the worship of the Kumano Sanzan, the three principal Kumano shrines.
In Shinto practice, a bunrei allows the sacred presence of an enshrined deity to be ritually divided and received by another shrine without diminishing the deity’s presence at the original sanctuary. Such transfers historically helped establish relationships between shrines and enabled religious communities to maintain connections with important centers of worship.
For Aibetsu’s settlers and their descendants, the 1915 transfer represented more than an administrative change. It brought a formal religious connection with Tanabe to a community whose founding families had traveled from the same region approximately two decades earlier. Through this relationship, the religious inheritance of southern Wakayama became part of an established Shinto institution in Hokkaido.
Official Recognition and the Development of Aibetsu Shrine
During the early Shōwa period, Aibetsu Shrine received a series of official recognitions that reflected its developing position within the local religious community. Formal authorization for its establishment was granted in 1929, followed by its elevation to the official rank of village shrine, or sonsha, in 1930. The latter development is recorded both in the Hokkaido Shrine Association’s official history and in Aibetsu’s municipal chronology.
The following year, the shrine received designation as a shinsen heihaku-ryō kyōshin jinja, a classification associated with official offerings for shrine ceremonies under Japan’s prewar system of shrine administration. These recognitions placed Aibetsu Shrine within the institutional arrangements that governed recognized shrines during the period.
The physical development of the shrine continued alongside these administrative changes. In 1939, major construction work was completed on the shrine complex, representing another important stage in the development of the sanctuary established on Hōraizan three decades earlier.
The history of Kanatomi Farm was also being formally commemorated during these years. In 1938, a memorial inscription honoring Kondō Shinjūrō and Okamoto Shōtarō was erected. The inscription credited the founders with contributing land for Aibetsu Shrine and supporting the establishment of educational facilities in the developing settlement.
The monument offers an important historical record of how the community remembered its founders. It also reflects the commemorative language of the period, which emphasized agricultural development, devotion to the state, and the accomplishments of the farm’s organizers. Its account therefore provides valuable evidence of local historical memory, although it must be distinguished from the original records of the settlement itself.
Following Japan’s defeat in the Second World War, the country’s religious institutions underwent substantial changes as the prewar relationship between the state and Shinto shrines came to an end. Aibetsu Shrine subsequently became an independent religious corporation in 1953, ensuring the continuation of its religious activities within Japan’s postwar legal framework.
The Twelve Enshrined Deities and the Architecture of Aibetsu Shrine
Today, the Hokkaido Shrine Association identifies twelve deities enshrined at Aibetsu Shrine. Among them is Amaterasu Ōmikami, one of the principal deities of Shinto and a central figure in Japanese imperial mythology. The shrine also honors Ame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto, Ninigi no Mikoto, Hohodemi no Mikoto, and Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto, figures associated with the divine genealogy recorded in Japan’s early mythological traditions.
Other enshrined deities include Homusubi no Kami, Mizuhanome no Kami, Haniyamahime, Wakumusubi no Kami, and Ame no Tajikarao no Kami. The shrine also enshrines Hayatama no O no Kami and Kotosaka no O no Kami, whose presence reflects the sanctuary’s historical connections with Kumano worship.
The shrine’s main building follows the shinmei-zukuri architectural tradition, a form associated with comparatively restrained wooden shrine architecture. According to the Hokkaido Shrine Association, the main building occupies approximately 137 square meters, while the surrounding precinct encompasses approximately 8,370 square meters.
The landscape surrounding the shrine also possesses recognized environmental importance. In August 1980, the Hōrai area received designation as a protected environmental green space by Hokkaido, helping preserve the wooded setting associated with the sanctuary.
Additional construction and improvements continued during the late twentieth century. In 1988, the shrine erected a tamagaki, a sacred enclosure or fence, and undertook improvements to its grounds. A new shrine office was constructed in 1991 as part of a commemorative project associated with the imperial accession ceremonies, while the first major torii gate was erected in 1993 to commemorate the marriage of the Japanese crown prince.
These developments contributed to the appearance of the modern shrine while preserving the religious traditions established by the settlement’s original inhabitants.
The Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura and the Preservation of Religious Traditions
One of Aibetsu Shrine’s most distinctive cultural traditions is the Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura, a form of traditional lion dancing and sacred performance introduced by settlers from Gifu Prefecture during the early development of the town. Its origins are generally traced to the Hakusan Kagura tradition brought to Hokkaido in 1896, shortly after the establishment of Kanatomi Farm.
The tradition illustrates the broader religious and cultural diversity of Aibetsu’s founding population. While settlers from Wakayama established the sanctuary that became Aibetsu Shrine, migrants from Gifu maintained their own regional ceremonial practices, bringing forms of performance that eventually became closely associated with the shrine’s annual festival.
The Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura experienced periods of decline before a preservation society was established in 1967 to revive and maintain the tradition. In 1971, Aibetsu Town designated the performance as an intangible cultural property, recognizing its importance to the community’s cultural heritage.
The tradition has continued through the activities of the preservation society, which maintains fourteen ceremonial pieces. Its performances include distinctive musical interludes known as uchikomi, played on flutes and drums between the individual pieces, a practice identified by the Meiji Yasuda Quality of Life Foundation as particularly uncommon among comparable traditions in Japan.
The lion kagura remains closely connected to Aibetsu Shrine’s annual festival, held on June 25. For residents of Aibetsu, its performance preserves a connection with the religious and cultural practices carried north by the town’s nineteenth-century settlers.
The preservation of this tradition continues to receive institutional support. In March 2026, the Meiji Yasuda Quality of Life Foundation announced a grant of 600,000 yen for the Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura Preservation Society to support the repair of ceremonial equipment. Aibetsu Town reported that the grant was formally presented on June 2 and that several middle school students had recently joined the society, providing new opportunities to transmit the traditional performances to younger generations.
Aibetsu Shrine and the Religious Heritage of Hokkaido
More than a century after its establishment, Aibetsu Shrine continues to occupy its wooded location on Hōraizan, preserving a history that connects the agricultural settlement of Hokkaido with the religious traditions of Wakayama and Gifu. Its annual festival, traditional kagura performances, and continuing religious activities reflect a relationship between the shrine and the surrounding community that developed over several generations.
The surviving historical records make it possible to trace much of this development. The petitions submitted by Kondō Shinjūrō and Okamoto Shōtarō in 1894 explain the intentions behind Kanatomi Farm, while the early settlers’ diaries illuminate the practical difficulties of establishing a new agricultural community. Historical maps document the original settlement near the Ishikari and Aibetsu rivers, and the 1938 commemorative inscription preserves the community’s later understanding of its founders’ contributions.
Together with the official institutional histories of Aibetsu Shrine and Tōkei Shrine, these records reveal how religious traditions accompanied Japanese migration across considerable geographical distances and became established in new communities. They also show how the history of a local shrine can encompass broader developments in agriculture, settlement, disaster recovery, religious administration, and cultural preservation.
What began in 1895 as a small sanctuary at Kanatomi Farm eventually became an established place of worship for Aibetsu. Although its buildings, administrative status, and surrounding community have changed considerably since the Meiji period, the shrine continues to preserve the religious inheritance of the settlers who brought their traditions from southern Japan to the interior of Hokkaido.
Sources & Further Reading
Hokkaido Shrine Association. “Aibetsu Shrine” (愛別神社). Official shrine history, including its founding, enshrined deities, architectural style, religious status, and subsequent renovations. https://hokkaidojinjacho.jp/愛別神社/
Aibetsu Town. “A Brief History of Aibetsu Town” (愛別町の略史). Municipal historical chronology, including Aibetsu Shrine’s elevation to village-shrine status in 1930. https://www.town.aibetsu.hokkaido.jp/sites/default/files/user-data/soumu/pdf/愛別町について/町勢要覧/資料編/p11-15.pdf
Aibetsu Town. “Introduction to Aibetsu Town” (愛別町のご紹介). Official municipal history documenting the arrival of settlers from Wakayama, Gifu, and Aichi prefectures in 1895. https://www.town.aibetsu.hokkaido.jp/08/08/656
Aibetsu Town 130th Anniversary Committee. Aibetsu Town: 130th Anniversary Commemorative History (愛別町開拓130年記念誌). Aibetsu, Hokkaido: Aibetsu Town 130th Anniversary Committee, 2025. https://www.town.aibetsu.hokkaido.jp/08/08/2498
Aibetsu Town History Editorial Committee. Aibetsu Town History (愛別町史). Aibetsu, Hokkaido: Aibetsu Town, 1969. https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000039-I9490535
Aibetsu Town General Affairs and Planning Division. Aibetsu Town History (愛別町史). Vol. 4. Aibetsu, Hokkaido: Aibetsu Town, 2015. https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I026599654
Aibetsu Town Local History Research Association. Aipepputo: Stories of Our Hometown (アイペップト 故郷ものがたり). Aibetsu, Hokkaido: Aibetsu Town Board of Education, 1991. Discussed in the historical research article available at https://isabou.net/knowhow/colum-rekishi/colum91.asp
Kondō Shinjūrō and Okamoto Shōtarō. “Statement of Purpose for Establishing Kanatomi Farm” (金富農場設置主意書). 1894. Historical document reproduced in Isabou.net, Historical Large-Scale Sediment Disasters Series, no. 91. https://isabou.net/knowhow/colum-rekishi/colum91.asp
Kondō Shinjūrō and Okamoto Shōtarō. “Petition for Approval of Kanatomi Farm Regulations” (金富農場規約御認可願). June 25, 1894. Petition addressed to the governor of Wakayama Prefecture. Reproduced in Isabou.net, Historical Large-Scale Sediment Disasters Series, no. 91. https://isabou.net/knowhow/colum-rekishi/colum91.asp
Kondō Shinjūrō and Okamoto Shōtarō. “Petition for the Lease of Land in Aibetsu” (土地貸下願). June 1894. Original land application reproduced in Isabou.net, Historical Large-Scale Sediment Disasters Series, no. 91. https://isabou.net/knowhow/colum-rekishi/colum91.asp
Shoyōroku (諸要録). Diary of an early Kanatomi Farm settler, beginning in 1895. Excerpts published in Aibetsu Town History (1969). https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000039-I9490535
Kanatomi Farm. “Commemorative Monument Honoring the Founders of Kanatomi Farm.” 1938. Historical inscription, photograph, and transcription reproduced in Isabou.net, Historical Large-Scale Sediment Disasters Series, no. 91. https://isabou.net/knowhow/colum-rekishi/colum91.asp
Hokkaido University Library. “Complete Map of Aibetsu Village, Kamikawa District” (上川郡愛別村全図). Approximately 1898. Hokkaido Northern Studies Collection, Historical Maps and Illustrations Catalogue. https://www.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/hoppodb/hoppo.php?FF=2&hd=%E3%82%AB&max=100&pageID=24
Hokkaido University Library. “Kanatomi Farm, Aibetsu, Kamikawa District” (上川郡愛別金富農場). Historical photograph. Catalogue of Photographs of Hokkaido during the Meiji and Taishō Periods. Hokkaido Northern Studies Collection. https://www.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/hoppodb/hoppo.php?FF=2&hd=f&ma=f&max=100&pageID=23
Tōkei Shrine. “On the Founding of Tōkei Shrine” (御創建について). Official institutional history of the Wakayama shrine from which Aibetsu Shrine received a division of its enshrined deities in 1915. https://www.toukeijinja.or.jp/about/gosoken/
Isabou.net. “The 1893 Flood in Southern Wakayama Prefecture and Migration to Kanatomi Farm” (明治26年（1893）の和歌山県南部の水害と金富農場への移住). Walking through Historical Large-Scale Sediment Disaster Sites, no. 91. https://isabou.net/knowhow/colum-rekishi/colum91.asp
Hokkaido Cultural Resources Database. “Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura” (愛別岐阜獅子神楽). Cultural heritage record documenting the traditional performance brought to Aibetsu by settlers from Gifu Prefecture. https://www.northerncross.co.jp/bunkashigen/parts/10255.html
Aibetsu Town Board of Education. “Aibetsu Town Cultural Federation” (愛別町文化連盟). Official municipal directory identifying the Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura Preservation Society and other local cultural organizations. https://www.town.aibetsu.hokkaido.jp/01/08/02/557
Meiji Yasuda Quality of Life Foundation. “Recipients of the 2026 Grants for Regional Traditional Culture.” March 30, 2026. Official grant announcement documenting the Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura Preservation Society’s history, ceremonial repertoire, and funding for the repair of traditional equipment. https://www.meijiyasuda-qol-bunka.or.jp/news/pdf/20260330_qol_newsrelease_culture.pdf
Aibetsu Town. Kōhō Aibetsu (広報あいべつ). July 2026. Official municipal newsletter reporting the presentation of a traditional-culture preservation grant to the Aibetsu Gifu Lion Kagura Preservation Society. https://www.town.aibetsu.hokkaido.jp/04/01/2843
Endō, Yukiko. “The Origins and Types of Shrines Established in Tondenhei Villages: The Middle and Upper Ishikari River Basin” (屯田兵村における神社の創立由縁とその類型). Historical Geography (歴史地理学) 48, no. 5 (2006): 1–18. https://hist-geo.jp/img/archive/231_001.pdf
Endō, Yukiko. Modern Settlement Villages and Shrines: Changing Identities among Former Aizu Retainers and Tondenhei Settlers (近代開拓村と神社：旧会津藩士及び屯田兵の帰属意識の変遷). Tokyo: Ochanomizu Shobō, 2008. https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000002-I000009899789
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Kinki Regional Development Bureau. Historical Large-Scale Sediment Disasters on the Kii Peninsula Recurring at Approximately Sixty-Year Intervals: 1889, 1953, and 2011 (60年毎に繰り返される紀伊半島の歴史的大規模土砂災害). March 2021. https://www.kkr.mlit.go.jp/kiisankei/center/img/saigaishi.pdf