The main festival of the shrine is held annually on August 16, and features yabusame performances.

It first appeared in national chronicles in the Nihon Kōki in an entry date 832, with the location given as being in Kamo county, which is in the southern part of Izu Peninsula, near modern Shimoda.

Mishima Taisha was greatly revered by Minamoto no Yoritomo after he was exiled to Izu, and he made prayers at the shrine at the start of his struggle to overthrow the Heike clan in the Genpei War.

After the successful establishment of the Kamakura shogunate, he rebuilt the shrine on a large scale, and worship of the Mishima Daimyōjin became popular with the samurai class.

The shrine continued to be supported by Yoritomo's successors, especially the fourth Shogun Kujō Yoritsune.