Mishima Taisha (the foremost shrine of Izu Province), the source of this branch shrine, was deeply revered by Minamoto no Yoritomo during his years of exile in Izu. Yoritomo is said to have prayed to the deity Mishima Daimyojin for the downfall of the Taira, and to have raised his army in the eighth month of 1180, timing his uprising to coincide with the shrine's annual festival. Devotion to Mishima Daimyojin subsequently spread across the Izu and Sagami lands associated with Yoritomo, and this seaside place of distant worship in Atami drew veneration as a spot to venerate the divine power of Izu's foremost shrine. Although no record survives of Yoritomo himself visiting this site, the shrine preserves the memory of the Genpei conflict and the spread of the Mishima faith.