The beginning was an incident where Kaga no kami (the governer of Kaga Province) FUJIWARA no Morotaka burned a branch temple of Hakusan, and initially this was simply an ordinary conflict between the Mokudai (personal deputy of an absentee provincial governor) and the local temple, but the main temple of Hakusan was Enryaku-ji Temple and because Morotaka's father was the cloistered government aide Saiko, this led to a direct confrontation at the central government between the Enryaku-ji Temple and the cloistered government.
加賀守・藤原師高の目代が白山の末寺を焼いたことが発端で、当初は目代と現地の寺社によるありふれた紛争にすぎなかったが、白山の本寺が延暦寺であり、師高の父が院近臣の西光だったため、中央に波及して延暦寺と院勢力との全面衝突に発展した。