El santuario venera a Ame-no-Kaguyama-no-mikoto, la deidad principal de Yahiko Jinja.

Yahiko Jinja se encuentra al pie del Monte Yahiko en Niigata, vinculando estrechamente el santuario con el paisaje montañoso.

The shrine treasury holds the Shida-no-Otachi, the longest sword in Japan and an Important Cultural Property. It also houses armor and weapons donated by legendary samurai including Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Uesugi Kenshin.

The shrine was already considered ancient when it appeared in a poem in the Nara period Man'yōshū (compiled around 759 AD). Most of its historical records were lost in a devastating 1912 fire that destroyed both the shrine and town.