Founded in 1623 as a family temple for the Inagaki clan, the former lords of the Shima (part of modern-day Mie prefecture) territory. It was moved to its current location from the Sanadayama area in 1632. It was a famous site for a type of cherry blossoms known as reien-higanzakura during the Edo era, and even now has numerous flowering cherry trees. It is also home to a graveyard filled with historical personages, including Togai Fujisawa, a scholar and founder of an institute on Chinese scholarship; Nangaku, who named Osaka's Tsutenkaku Tower and the medicine known as Jintan; Katsuyuki Nabei, one of Osaka's representative painters; Yukihide Sano, the first sword smith of the Shinshinto period of Japanese swordsmithing and the smith for the historical Tosa territory; Roryu Hara, one of historical Osaka's three great doctors; the Nishimura clan, famed for the Rikuro Ojisan brand of sweets; and the Maeda clan, known for the Super Tamade chain of supermarkets. It draws numerous visitors over all four seasons.