The purpose of the invention is to realize a high-voltage discharge lamp illumination device, and a high-voltage discharge lamp, in which even when a minute protrusion is formed at a location further from the electrode tip than according to conventional arrangements, the minute protrusion can be eliminated while maintaining a stable arc discharge. An illumination device (1) of the high-voltage discharge lamp is provided with: a pulse generator (4) for generating pulse waves; and a power supply part (3) for having a DC voltage (Vdc) fed thereto, converting the DC voltage (Vdc) into an AC current corresponding to the frequency of the pulse wave, and feeding the AC current to the high-voltage discharge lamp (10). The pulse generator (4) repeats a cycle in which a first pulse wave is outputted over a first period, and a second pulse wave having a lower frequency than the first pulse wave is then outputted over a second period which is shorter than the first period. In addition, at a predetermined timing, the pulse generator (4) outputs, instead of the second pulse wave, a third pulse wave having an even lower frequency than the second pulse wave, and then returns to the cycle.