In "Konjaku Monogatari" (The Tale of Times Now Past), it is described that, in the period when the religious site in Mt. Koya was dilapidated due to a dispute with the To-ji Temple side, Kangen, the To-ji choja at that time, opened the mausoleum.
また、『今昔物語』には高野山が東寺との争いで一時荒廃していた時期、東寺長者であった観賢が霊廟を開いたという記述がある。