It is said that Nenbutsu-toge was named from the Buddhist invocation (Nenbutsu in Japanese) given to people who were killed around this mountain pass in the Sengoku period (period of Warring States) (Japan), or whose punishments for a crime of riot were witnessed in the Edo period.
戦国時代(日本)に付近で討死した者や、江戸時代の一揆で刑罰の一覧された人に念仏をあげたことが命名の由来とされている。