The temple was originally an imperial villa, the Kameyama-dono (亀山殿, lit. Kameyama Detached Palace) built in the mid-1200s and named after the nearby Mt. Ogura, nicknamed as Kameyama (亀山, lit. turtle mountain) due to its resemblance to a turtle shell. The tomb of the two emperors who constructed this villa, Emperor Go-Saga and his son Emperor Kameyama, still lie on the temple grounds today.
In 1339, the palace was converted into a temple by Ashikaga Takauji, the first shogun (将軍) of the Ashikaga Shogunate (足利幕府, Ashikaga Bakufu), whose younger brother supposedly had a dream about a golden dragon above the nearby Katsura River (桂川, Katsura-gawa), giving rise to the temple’s name Tenryū-ji (天龍寺, lit. Heavenly Dragon Temple).
In the 1430s, the temple became a tributary to the Ming dynasty of China. Since the Chinese dynasty at the time forbade formal trade with outsiders, the tributary status of Tenryū-ji allowed for formal trade between Japan and China, with China controlling the succession of the chief priest of the temple. This control of trade between Japan and China by the Tenryū-ji priests and monks continued until the mid-1800s.
Since its construction, the temple has been burnt down or severely damaged eight times, the most recent being in 1864, as such almost all of the temple buildings are modern reconstructions. The Sōgen Pond is one of the few locations of the temple that escaped destruction, and remains as it was from the early days of the temple.
