This site was once the villa of Fujiwara no Fuhito, and in the middle of the Kamakura period, Anrakuseisha was built and the temple was founded by Zenji Butsuchi. However, it was destroyed by fire during the Battle of Anegawa. The temple was later rebuilt by Naotaka Ii, the feudal lord of Hikone, in the early Edo period (1603-1868). The vast garden is said to have been created by Muso Kokushi, and is a landscape garden of cranes and turtles with a pond modeled after Lake Biwa. In the precincts of the temple, there is a tomb recorded as "Ashikaga Takauji's Nail Tomb," and it is kept in the temple by order of his bequest.