The name Yagami is recorded in Teika's travel journal in 1201 as Yakami Oji. This shrine became famous through monk Saigyo'waka poetry. In his poem,the name Yagami is referred to.

'Cherry trees bloom at last.Blow not,hard wind of Mt. Misu.'

The cherry blossoms were given as gifts every spring during the Kyoho era(1716-1736) to Wakayama-born shogun Muneyoshi Tokugawa. Yagami Oji was subject to the unification law of temples and shrines of the Meiji era but was not moved through the efforts of an anti-unification movement.The shrine still exists, and the surrounding shrine forest remains unchanged through the ages Towering cedar and cypress trees give the simple unadorned wooden shrine building an unpretentious air.