The year 1940 was the one in which the celebration of the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese nation was held, but this year was also the 250th anniversary of the opening of the Besshidozan copper mine; and to enshrine the souls of the deceased successive Sumitomo family heads and the deceased executive officers of the old Sumitomo Honsha this shrine was designed by Eikichi HASEBE and built as a refined space where the tablets of the above-mentioned deceased people are enshrined.
これは、昭和15年、日本紀元2600年の祝典が行われた年であったが、また住友では、別子銅山の開抗250年にあたる年で、歴代の住友家当主や旧住友本社幹部物故者の霊を祭るため、長谷部鋭吉の設計によって典雅な持仏堂として建立された。