It is believed that it was moved to its current location around the end of the 16th century, when it became a monzeki monastery (a high-ranking temple where the head priest is a member of the imperial family or aristocrats for generations).

In 1602, Chūgū-ji reverted to being a nunnery when an imperial princess was appointed, and the temple was also styled as the "Ikaruga Palace", which continues to exist to this day.

[8][9] The site of Chūgū-ji at the time of its founding is located about 500 meters east of the current temple grounds, in Ikaruga-chō, Hōryūji Higashi 2-chōme.

It is known that the temple complex was arranged with the Main Hall to the north and the pagoda to the south, and was patterned similar to Shitennō-ji in Osaka.

One of the characteristics of this temple complex is that the Main Hall and pagoda were constructed in close proximity to each other, and it is assumed that they were built with their eaves touching.

This is similar to the core foundations of pagoda at Shitennō-ji, Asuka-dera, and Hōryū-ji, suggesting that it was built long ago.

Parts of the north and south gates, as well as an ancient north-south road that runs parallel to the western embankment were also found.

Both have been found to have been produced at Imaike tile kiln (Misato-cho, Ikoma-gun, Nara Prefecture), and are dated to the first half of the 7th century.