The predecessor of this temple is said to have been founded by Yoshifusa Fujiwara in the Heian period. After its decline, it was restored as a Nichiren Shu temple by Hideyoshi Hideyoshi. Every year from the end of March to the beginning of April, the temple holds a "Cherry Blossom Festival" and the temple grounds are covered with cherry blossoms as visitors pass through the temple gate. The temple is named after the "Sumizome-zakura" cherry trees that bloom on the temple grounds. When Mototsune Fujiwara, the Grand Minister of State in the Heian period (794-1185), passed away, his friend, Mineo Kamitsuke, a poet, wrote a poem, "Cherry blossoms in the fields of Fukakusa, if you have a heart, bloom in Sumizome only this year. The legend has it that the cherry blossoms bloomed in sumizome colors, as if the poet's wish that "if cherry blossoms have a heart, let them bloom in sumizome only this year" was understood.
A young cherry tree, now in its fourth generation, is blooming with small, light-ink colored flowers.