They faced stiff resistance from a local king named Nagamitsu-hiko and during the ensuing battle Itsuse no Mikoto was struck by an arrow.

The army thus turned south into the Kii Peninsula, but Itsuse no Mikoto's wound worsened, and he died at a place called "Kameyama", where his burial mound was built.

Its name appears in the Engishiki records dated 927 AD, by which time it was a substantial shrine, and the kofun located behind the Honden had been identified as the tomb of Itsuse no Mikoto by the Imperial household.

In records dated 1381, the head kannushi of the shrine was a hereditary position held by the Ukai family, who claimed to be descendants of the Kofun period kuni no miyatsuko of Kii Province.

The shrine was destroyed in 1585 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and restored in 1600 by Asano Yoshinaga, albeit on a much smaller scale.