This shrine’s main Kami is a jinbutsu-kami, Ono Takamura, a calligrapher and poet who lived during the early Heian Period. It is said that the origin of the shrine was in 852 when local residents began to worship Ono, who was hiding in Ueno Terusaki (now Rinnoden Temple on the outskirts of Ueno Park very close to Ueno Station).

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In 1625 construction of what later became one of the two Tokugawa family temples, Kanei-ji, started at the Ueno park site and the shrine where Ono was worshipped was moved to its present location on the orders of the Bakufu. At that time the site was occupied by Choemon Inari Jina and this became a subsidiary shrine of the new arrival.

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Late in the Edo Period a nearby temple, Ekōin, gave the shrine a carving of Sugawara Michizane said to have been made by Sugawara himself. Sugawara was enshrined along with Ona Takamura and the jinja became one of the 25 Edo Tenjin. In her book, “Takekurabe”, Higuchi Ichiyo refers to the shrine as “Onoteru-sama.”

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At the rear of the shrine there is a Fujizuka. Built in 1782 and 6m. high it is open to the public on June 30 and July 1 each year to coincide with the official opening of Mt. Fuji. In 1979 it was designated an Important tangible folk cultural property