The temple claims to have been founded in 725 AD by the wandering priest/miracle-worker Gyōki, who carved a 2.8 meter statue of Fudō Myō-ō in bas-relief on a tuff cliff-face.

While there are no historical records to back up this claim, the carving itself dates from the late Heian period and is a designated Important Cultural Property in 1974.

[1] The statue is part of a group, which includes two of Fudō Myō-ō's assistants Kiṃkara (矜羯羅童子, Kongara dōji) and Ceṭaka (吒迦童子, Seitaka dōji), a seated statue of Amida Nyōrai and a seated Buddhist priest (possibly Gyōki).

The temple was connected with worship of the sacred mountain Mount Tateyama and at one point had 21 subsidiaries and 60 chapels.

The Fudō-dō was destroyed by a windstorm in 1335, by a fire set by troops of the Uesugi clan during the late Muromachi period and again by a tree in 1967.