Kaga Domain
In 1585 Maeda Toshiie, the founding "daimyō" of Kaga Domain, built a chapel within Kanazawa Castle as a prayer place of Kaga Domain. In 1643, Maeda Toshitsune, the third "daimyō" of Kaga Domain, relocated the chapel to a new site in the Tera-machi district to the south of the castle, and ordered the construction of a full temple. The temple layout and location were part of the domain's defensive plans against a possible attack by the central government (Tokugawa shogunate).