What is "ichinomiya"

Ichinomiya (; literally first shrine) is historically the supreme shrine in each of the old provinces of Japan, and currently the name of several places in Japan:

• a city:
  • Ichinomiya, Aichi (Japanese: 一宮市; Ichinomiya-shi) containing the shrine of the old province Owari
    • Owari-Ichinomiya Station along the JR Central Tōkaidō Main Line
    • Meitetsu Ichinomiya Station along the adjacent Meitetsu Main Line
• several towns (Japanese: 一宮町; Ichinomiya-cho or Ichinomiya-machi):
  • Ichinomiya, Chiba containing the shrine of the old province Kazusa
    • Kazusa-Ichinomiya Station, along the JR East Sotobō Line
  • Ichinomiya, Aichi (Mikawa) containing the shrine of the old province Mikawa
    • Mikawa-Ichinomiya Station, along the JR Central Iida Line
  • Ichinomiya, Hyogo (Shiso) containing the shrine of the old province Harima
  • Ichinomiya, Hyogo (Tsuna) containing the shrine of the old province Awaji
  • Ichinomiya, Kumamoto containing the shrine of the old province Higo
  • Ichinomiya, Yamanashi containing the shrine of the old province Kai
  • Ichinomiya Castle in Tosa Province, today's Kochi Prefecture.

is a historical term referring to the Japanese Shinto shrines with the highest shrine rank ( :ja:社格) in a province or prefecture.

Most of the old provinces of Japan had one or more ichinomiya, which gave rise to place names, such as the city of Ichinomiya, Aichi. Shrines of the lower rank are called ninomiya (二宮, second), sannomiya (三宮, third), shinomiya (四宮, fourth), and so forth.