Also known as the Sanja Shrine (The Shrine of the Three Gods), Asakusa Shrine started as a shrine dedicated to three men - fisherman brothers Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari, who caught the statue of Kannon (the Goddess of Salvation) in their fishing net, and Hajino Nakachi, an acquaintance of them who suggested that the statue be enshrined in a proper way.

Since it was built in 1649 as a donation from Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa Shogun, the shrine's main building has been befallen by, and yet survived, fires, wars and the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, and joined the list of Important Cultural Property in 1951.

Currently under the management of Japanese government, the entire building was re-lacquered in 1996, at a total cost of 350 million yen, and came out in its supposed original colors of vivid vermilion.