It is said that during the Kyoho era (1716 - 1736), the head monk of Shoren-in Temple at the base of Mt. Kacho, one of Higashiyama mountain range (in Kyoto Prefecture), brought back with him striped potatoes shaped like shrimp when he returned from his travel over Kyushu; the potatoes were given to Gondayu HIRANO who served the monk, and when the potatoes were cultivated in the land of Maruyama, which is a hillock on the western side of the Mt. Kacho, the potatoes harvested were of excellent quality and had warpage and stripe patterns like those of shrimp, and thus were given the name ebiimo.
海老芋は、享保（1716～1736）の頃、東山(京都府)の1つ、華頂山麓にある青蓮院の門跡が、九州を巡行し、海老のような縞模様の芋を持ち帰り、その芋を仕えていた平野権太夫が拝領して、同じ華頂山西側の小丘である円山の地で栽培したところ、海老のような反りと縞模様をもった質の良い芋ができたので、その姿から、海老芋と名付けられたと云われている。