Anrakuji is an independent Jodo-affiliated temple whose origins trace to the "Shishigatani Hermitage" established as a nembutsu training hall in the early Kamakura period by Jurenbo and Anrakubo, disciples of Honen. It is the tragic setting of the Kenei Persecution: when two of the retired Emperor Gotoba's court ladies, Matsumushi and Suzumushi, took the tonsure here, Gotoba's fury led to the execution of Juren and Anraku and the exile of Honen.

In 1207, the retired Emperor Go-Toba's court ladies Matsumushi and Suzumushi took the tonsure at the hermitage of Juren and Anraku, disciples of Honen — a act that provoked the emperor's fury and triggered the 'Jogen Persecution.' Go-Toba had Juren and Anraku executed, banished Honen to Tosa, and sent Shinran into exile in Echigo. Anrakuji stands on the site of that tragic Shishigatani Hermitage. The sudden renunciation of the world by ladies whom Go-Toba cherished sparked a grave confrontation between the imperial court and the new nembutsu Buddhism. In historical irony, Go-Toba himself would later be defeated in the Jokyu War and spend his final years in exile on Oki.