It belongs to the Tendai sect of Japanese Buddhism, and its honzon is a statue of Jizo Bosatsu.The temple is built on the slopes of Daisen.

[2] By the 7th century the area became a center of shugendō, a syncretic religion which incorporated aspects Koshintō, Japanese folk animism and shamanism, Taoism and esoteric Buddhism of the Shingon Mikkyō and the Tendai sects.

Repenting for his act, he became a priest and took the name of Koren Shonin in 718 AD, and constructed a small hut to worship Jizo Bosatsu.

The head monk, or Zashu, of this temple was dispatched from Enryaku-ji, the headquarters of Tendai sect, and after serving a term here, returned to Mount Hiei and was promoted.

Numerous cultural treasures were lost in the fire, notably the Daisen-ji engi emaki, the illustrated scrolls of the history of the temple.