This temple was originally founded in 998 in the Heian period as a rural villa of Fujiwara no Michinaga, one of the most powerful person in the Fujiwara Clan. This villa was changed to a Buddhist temple by Fujiwara no Yorimichi in 1052. The most famous building in the temple is the Phoenix Hall or the Amida Hall, constructed in 1053. The only remaining original building is the Phoenix Hall, surrounded by a scenic pond; additional buildings making up the compound were burnt down during a civil war in 1336.
