It was the first Tokyo Legation of the United States.

During the Bakumatsu (1853-1868), the last years of the Edo Period, in 1859, the Shogunate appointed Townsend Harris as the first United States Consul General to Japan, and designated Azabusan Zenpukuji as the first Tokyo Legation of the United States. There is a monument to Townsend Harris in the temple grounds.