Senkoji Temple was the historical family temple of the Okabe clan, historical rulers of Kishiwada Castle. The first ruler of Kishiwada Castle, Nobukatsu Okabe, built his retirement estate on the site of the current temple. It was also Nobukatsu's final wish that he be buried here on his death in 1668 and that the estate be made a temple. In the generations to come, it acted as a family temple. Later, the temple would incorporate two characters from Nobukatsu's posthumous Buddhist name into its own, to become Senkoji Temple.