The kami worshipped at this shrine is Ame-no-mikage-no-mikoto [ja], Amaterasu's grandson, who in legend, descended onto 432-meter Mount Mikami during the reign of Emperor Kōrei (290 - 215 BC) to become the shintai of the mountain.

While it is known that Fujiwara no Fuhito ordered the construction of a shrine at the current location in 718 AD, archaeological excavations have found that the area was connected with rituals pertaining to Mount Mikami from a much earlier period.

The shrine is mentioned in several occasions in the Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku completed in 901 and is also mentioned in the Engishiki list of shrines in Ōmi Province dated 927 AD.

Mikami Jinja is a ten-minute drive from Yasu Station on then JR West Biwako Line.

[6] The rice for Emperor Showa's first Niiname Festival in 1925 was grown in a paddy field nearby, which is celebrated every year in June by a rice planting ceremony.