The exact year of its founding is unclear, but emperor ankan, the 27th emperor, frequently visited this area. in the autumn of the second year of his reign, he grazed cattle here, aiming to develop the land. it is said that people who admired his virtues enshrined emperor ankan as the main deity. furthermore, this area has many legends about prince shotoku, and the wooden statue of the deity is said to have been created by prince shotoku. in fact, when prince shotoku considered building shitennoji temple, he chose this site, but because it was prone to flooding, he reluctantly built it in the present-day tennoji. because he had once decided on this site, it was called tennoji-sho in nishinari-gun until 1925 (taisho 14).