Sugawara no Michizane is enshrined as the principal deity of Utasu Shrine. Founded in 948, it arose amid the nationwide wave of Tenjin shrine establishments following Michizane's death in 903, built to pacify his vengeful spirit. During the Kaga Domain era, the Maeda clan donated shrine lands, and it was revered as the guardian shrine of the Higashi Chaya district.

To avoid scrutiny from the Edo shogunate, the Kaga domain could not publicly enshrine its founding lord, Maeda Toshiie, as a deity. Instead, the domain secretly merged Toshiie's divine spirit under the name 'Udatsu-sanno' at Utasu Shrine, venerating it as the domain's place of prayer. Domain lords were said to visit the shrine during the sankin-kotai procession; though publicly a shrine to Sugawara no Michizane, it functioned in practice as a guardian shrine of the Maeda clan.