The shrine was built by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1914 after it bloodlessly captured the island in the Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I. It was named after the battleship "Katori", which was used to capture Saipan and named in honor of the Katori Shrine in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The portable shrine aboard the"Katori" housed a sacred repository object (goshintai) where the spirit of Futsunushi resided. A piece of the goshintai was taken from the battleship after a "dividing of spirit" rite and was enshrined on the island. It burned down during the Battle of Saipan in 1944.