Only Ieyasu's self-carved statue and a sacred ginkgo tree survived the devastating 1945 firebombing that destroyed everything else, the current buildings date from 1969 reconstruction.

Originally called Ankoku-den after Ieyasu's Buddhist posthumous name, the shrine was part of Zojoji Temple until the Meiji government's 1868 order forcibly separated Shinto shrines from Buddhist temples nationwide.

Though designated a Special Protected Building in 1915 (equivalent to Important Cultural Property), the original ornate shrine with its Chinese-style gate and transparent fence was completely destroyed in the 1945 Tokyo air raids.

Tokugawa Ieyasu carved his own life-sized statue at age 60 and worshipped it himself at Sunpu Castle before ordering it enshrined here upon his death, making this one of the few shrines housing a self-commissioned deity image.