A high ignition voltage is required to turn on the metal halide discharge(MHD) lamp. The igniter with high frequency resonance circuit needs more devices, such as sidac, arc-gab, SCR(silicon control rectifier), DIAC and so of which increase the complexity and decrease the reliability of the ignitor. This paper analyzes and designs a simple LC resonance type igniter without any extra switch devices. Moreover, the igniter will not influence the steady-state operation of the lamp. Through the mathematical analysis, the computer simulation and experiment results of a prototype ballast for 1[kW] metal halide lamp(MHL) lamp, the proposed igniter was verified to be effective.