This temple is reported to have been founded in 1191 by Tadakuni TAKADA, who was an immediate vassal of the shogun Yoritomo MINAMOTO and an ancestor of the Shimizu clan which became shake (a family of Shinto priests serving a shrine on a hereditary basis) of Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine.
この寺は、源頼朝の御家人で石清水八幡宮の社家志水氏の祖となった高田忠国が開基となり、1191年（建久2年）創建した寺と伝えられる。