In 1180 (Jisho 4), Minamoto no Yoritomo raised his army in Izu and faced the Battle of Ishibashiyama. Doi Jiro Sanehira, the local lord who governed this Doi district, rallied his clan to Yoritomo's side and, on the eve of the battle, is said to have prayed for victory before this shrine. After Yoritomo's defeat, Sanehira sheltered him at the Doi residence and helped him set sail from the Iwa coast of Manazuru to Awa Province, aiding the Minamoto restoration. As the chief tutelary shrine of the Doi district — the very stage of Yoritomo's uprising — Goso Shrine is deeply bound to the story of the Minamoto revival. The great camphor tree towering in its grounds (a Natural Monument of Kanagawa, over 800 years old) still bears witness to that age.