However, "Anbagaiji engi", handed down for many generations in the temple, tells another story about the start of the temple, which is that Gantei, a high disciple of Ganjin, built a cottage in the 1st Year of Hoki, and enshrined Vaisravana.
しかし、寺に伝わる『鞍馬蓋寺縁起』（あんばがいじえんぎ）には別の草創縁起を伝えており、鑑真の高弟鑑禎（がんてい）が宝亀元年（770年）に草庵を結び、毘沙門天を安置したのが始まりという。