Its name derives from a legend of 'a single magnificent cypress tree.' Though its date of founding is unknown, this site occupied the 'Fifth Enclosure' of the Nakano Okakoi Goyo-yashiki — the vast government dog compound (popularly 'Nakano Inuyashiki') established in 1695 (Genroku 8) under the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's 'Edicts on Compassion for Living Things.' After Tsunayoshi's death in 1709 (Hoei 6) abolished the compound, the area briefly became shogunal falconry grounds. When the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune revived Nakano's falconry grounds in 1716 (Kyoho 1) and visited this area, he is said to have admired a magnificent cypress tree here, exclaiming 'What a fine hinoki!' — said to be the origin of the name 'Ippon-hinoki' ('Single Cypress').