Higo Province
The oldest document which mentions Jōkō-ji is the Tōmyō-ji Document written in 1298 in the Kamakura period, in which it is stated that "Jōkō-ji of Higo Province was privately built by Shramana Ekū." Although we cannot determine that the "Jōkō-ji of Higo Province" mentioned there is indeed the Jōkō-ji Renge-in of Taira no Shigemori mentioned in the Higo Chronicle or that the former succeeded the latter, it is safe to assume that Jōkō-ji was built either at the end of the Heian period or the beginning of the Kamakura period.