Kichijoji (Yoshimi Kannon) is said to have been founded by Jikaku Daishi Ennin during the Tencho era (824-834), giving it over a thousand years of history as a Kannon pilgrimage site.

Minamoto no Yoritomo, founder of the Kamakura shogunate, is recorded as one of the warrior patrons who devoted himself to Yoshimi Kannon (Anrakuji), the 11th temple of the Bando 33 Kannon pilgrimage. This ancient temple in Musashi Province flourished under the faith and protection of Yoritomo and the eastern warrior clans throughout the Kamakura period, cementing its place as a preeminent Kannon sacred site in eastern Japan.