Temple legend states without any documentary evidence that it was founded by the wandering holy ascetic Gyōki, and as was often the case, later legends changed this attribution to Kūkai. The temple is mentioned in the mid-Kamakura period in various documents and records, but due to repeated disasters (fires in 1336 1479 and 1717 have been recorded), most of the temple records have been lost. It appears possible that portions of the original temple survived until at least the Meiji period. A large fire in 1891 destroyed almost all of the temple. The present main hall is a modern design by the noted architect Hideto Kishida in 1942, and is located precisely above the site of the ancient Kondō. The temple is a five-minute walk from the Kokubu bus stop on the Keisei bus from JR East Sobu Line Ichikawa Station.
