what is now its current location in what was then the garden-cum-park of a senior Tokugawa family. The abundance of flowers there resulted in the shrine becoming known as Hanazono , lit “Flower Park”, Inari Jinja.

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The first historical mention of the name Hanazono Jinja was in 1803. The shrine had been destroyed by fire and a plaque donated by a town council expressing hopes that the shrine would be rebuilt bore the name “Hanazono-sha,” However, it would be over a century later before the shrine would be officially named Hanazono. During the Edo Period it was known both as Inari Jinja and Sankoin Inari, and occasionally as Yotsuya Oiwake Inari (there are two other Oiwake Inari Jinja in Shinjuku, both very interesting)

The Sankoin Inari Jinja name comes from the fact that the Sankoin-Temple was the shrine’s betto-ji during the days Shinbutsu Shugo, when Shinto and Buddhism coexisted peacefully. With the advent of the Meiji Period and the separation of Shinto and Buddhism, Shinbutsu Bunri, the Sankoin Temple was essentially shut down.Due to a bookkeeping glitch it was not until 1916 that the name Hanazono Inari Jinja was adopted. Another near half-century passed before the shrine was finally named Hanazono Jinja. This was in 1965, when the shrine buildings were reconstructed, and Otori Jinja, which had been a subordinate shrine, was merged into the main shrine.