A fish fossil found from the Miocene Bessho Formation near Amikake, Sakaki Town, Hanishina County in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan is described as a new species of the genus Clupea, C. macrocephala of the family Clupeidae of Clupeiformes. This new species differs from other species of the genus in having a large head about 3.4 times in the standard length versus more than 4 times in other species. Clupea macrocephala sp. nov. is closer to Clupea pallasii than Clupea harengus in the number of vertebrae. Presence of the fossil herrings of the genus Clupea in the deposits of Pacific basin implies that the origin of this genus, probably, was in the Pacific Ocean in the Miocene.