A light emitting device is provided with: a pair of an anode and a cathode that are opposed to each other; and a phosphor layer, composed of a plurality of phosphor particles, that is sandwiched between the paired anode and cathode, from direction that is perpendicular to main surfaces of the anode and the cathode, and in this structure, each phosphor particle is a nitride semiconductor phosphor particle having a wurtzite crystal structure that contains an n-type nitride semiconductor portion and a p-type nitride semiconductor portion, with the n-type nitride semiconductor portion being made in contact with the cathode and the p-type nitride semiconductor portion being made in contact with the anode, and the n-type nitride semiconductor portion and the p-type nitride semiconductor portion have the common c-axe in the respective crystal structures thereof made in parallel with each other, with the n-type nitride semiconductor portion and the p-type nitride semiconductor portion being made in contact with each other on a plane in parallel with the c-axe.