A short arc mercury lamp includes a luminous bulb enclosing at least mercury as a luminous material and a pair of electrodes opposed to each other; and a pair of sealing portions for sealing a pair of metal foils electrically connected to the pair of electrodes, respectively. The electrode central axis of one of the pair of electrodes is dislocated from the electrode central axis of the other electrode. The shortest distance d (cm) between the head of one of the electrodes and the head of the other electrode is larger than the value of (6M/13.6.pi.).sup.1/3 when the total mass of the enclosed mercury is M (g).