Description
The origins of what is now Shikishima Jinja date back to at least 1340. At that time there was a Sengen Jinja at the site and in its grounds was a small mound, the Tagoyama-tsuka, which is thought to have been a circular burial mound dating from the late 7th century.

​

In 1908, following the enactment of the Shrine Merger Order, three local shrines, Murayama Inari Jinja, Hoshino Inari Jinja, and Sui Jinja were merged into the existing Sengen Jinja: there was some discussion of how the new entity should be named—followers of the three shines being merged arguing for their own shrine’s name to be used—and the name finally chosen was Shikishima Jinja. This was the result of a perceived similarity between the makura kotoba (literally "pillow word", figures of speech used in Japanese waka poetry, where epithets are used in association with certain words) of a waka by Norinaga Motoori and the name of the Sengen Jinja kami, Konohana-sakuya-bime-Ōkami. The pillow word of the waka is Shikishima and other words used include Japan (Yamato), rising sun (Asahi), and cherry blossoms (sakura-no-hana): these are all redolent of the kami’s name, hence its adoption for the shrine.