The current Hondō was built in 1848, but soon after its completion it was commandeered by the Tokugawa shogunate for use as a residence for foreign visitors to Shimoda during negotiations to end Japan's national isolation policy.

Gyokusen-ji was selected by officials of the Tokugawa shogunate to host Imperial Russian admiral Yevfimiy Putyatin and his officers during their stay in Shimoda.

Putyatin had called at Shimoda on November 22, 1854, as it had been opened to the Americans by the Convention of Kanagawa, intending to continue on to Edo to press on with negotiations to establish a similar treaty between Japan and Russia.

This group resided at Gyokusen-ji after the departure of the Russians almost until the arrival of Townsend Harris, the first American Consul General to Japan in 1856, together with his secretary-interpreter Henry Heusken.

Its English language sign reads: "This monument, erected in 1931 by the butchers of Tokyo, marks the spot where the first cow in Japan was slaughtered for human consumption.