Along with a large part of Tokyo, Yoshiwara was devasted by  the Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923. Desperate to escape the inferno which Yoshiwara had become, many people fled to the nearby park, then known as  Hanazono Park, the current Shin Yoshikawa Park, in which Benzai ike was located. No respite from the flames was to be found there, however, and in desperation many people jumped into the pond: it is estimated that 155 people from the pleasure quarter lost their lives there, as did another 490 from normal areas. In 1926 a statue of Kannon-sama, Avalokiteshvara, was erected to honour the deceased. The shrine was destroyed again in the Great Tokyo Firebombing of March 1945. In 1959 construction of the Yoshiwara Building saw the pond shrink greatly in size. The shrine  was rebuilt  in 1968.It is now one of the shines on the Asakusa Shichifukunin (Seven Gods of Good Fortune) circuit.