Le sanctuaire vénère Ame-no-Kaguyama-no-mikoto, la divinité principale de Yahiko Jinja.

Yahiko Jinja se dresse au pied du Mont Yahiko à Niigata, liant étroitement le sanctuaire au paysage montagneux.

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.