According to historical records, Bankyakuin Temple was first founded in the 8th year of the Kanei era (1631). In the Edo period (1603 – 1868), the temple lacked priests, so Kokushu Tenetsu joined the temple and renamed it as Hojusan Bankyakuin Temple. When Tokugawa Ieyasu himself resided in Tanaka Castle, he often visited falconers in this area, and each time he stopped to visit Bankyakuin Temple, where he enjoyed playing the board game Go with the Buddhist priest Tenetsu. For this reason, some people posit that this monastery was named “Bankyakuin” (literally “board legs temple”) after the legs of a Go board. At Fujieda Reien, a cemetery adjacent to Bankyakuin Temple, there is a 17 meter tall bronze statue named “Fujieda Dai-Kannon”. This rare statue was modeled after a chief priest of Bankyakuin Temple, who miraculously recovered from a severe illness.