The founding of the first Kuan-yin temple there goes back to a Japanese monk who tried to carry a sacred image of Kuan-yin back to Japan in the early tenth century.
相傳五代時的後梁朝年間，一位名叫慧鍔的日本僧人，從五台山請得觀音菩薩聖像，準備奉歸日本。