It was one of the three major Sōtō temples in Edo during the Tokugawa shogunate, and became famous through its connection with the Akō incident of the forty-seven Rōnin in the 18th century.

After it was destroyed in the Kan'ei Fire of 1641, third shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu ordered the five daimyō clans of Mori, Asano, Kutsuki, Niwa and Mizutani to rebuild the temple at its present location in Takanawa, but on a much larger scale.

In 1702, the forty-seven Rōnin led by Ōishi Kuranosuke avenged his death and assassinated Kira Kōzuke-no-suke Yoshinaka.

After parading Kira's severed head through Edo, they washed it at a well at the temple and presented it on the altar in front of Asano's tomb.

This story became famous through the Kabuki epic Chūshingura and their graves became a popular site of pilgrimage.