Shōkaku-ji was founded in the Nara period by Seiga, who came from India as a priest during the period. He made a Buddhist hermitage and found white camellias in the mountain. He cropped them and created a pair of Bodhisattva Kannon statues, enshrining one in this temple. It is said to be told the first process of kerosene by squeezing oil from camellia seeds in Japan. Both have been derived from the word of Mount Abura and the temple. Initially, it was called as Senpuku-ji (泉福寺).