The Maebashi Tōshō-gū was initially established in 1624 by Matsudaira Naomoto (1604-1648) in Echizen-Katsuyama Domain, over which he had just been made daimyō.

Matsudaira Naomoto was the 5th son of Yūki Hideyasu, and was thus grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

During his career, Matsudaira Naomoto and his successors were transferred so many times that they came to be known as the "wandering daimyō", and with each change in domain he had the Tōshō-gū disassembled and reconstructed at his new posting.

Naomori's grandson, Matsudaira Akinori was transferred to Himeji Domain in 1741.

In 1867, when Matsudaira Naokatsu returned his seat to Maebashi, he planned to move the Tōshō-gū as well, but due to the turmoil at the end of the Edo period, it was not actually rebuilt until 1871.