The Sōja River near here has often flooded and caused great damage and loss of life. In fact, the local people call it the Hitotori Gawa for the number of lives it has claimed. On the request of the local people, Kōbō Daishi tamed the river by performing a secret ritual on its banks, at which time Jizō Bosatsu appeared. He then built the river's levee, carved a statue of Jizō, and enshrined it in the temple.

The characters that are used to write this temple's name have the same pronunciation as the characters for "Easy Birth Temple" and, as the main vow of Jizō is to ease child birth, this was the name originally used.

Frederick Stare notes, with an exclamation point, to "Look out for the river crossing!" Apparently it was dangerous in his days, but i don't think it is a problem today.