While the Ikegami Honmon-ji in Tokyo is also the Nichiren sect's administrative centre, Kuon-ji today plays an important role as a seminary.

He was invited by the magistrate Nambu Sanenaga, one of his converts, to relocate to Kai province, where the Nanbu clan had its ancestral estates, in 1274.

The original dwelling became too small and in 1281 Nichiren founded a temple nearby, which he named Minobu-san Hokke-in Kuon-ji.

Some consisted of moving letters to followers expressing appreciation for their assistance, counseling on personal matters, and explaining his teachings in more understandable terms.

The temple grew in popularity as a place of pilgrimage through the Sengoku and Edo periods, and in 1712 boasted of 133 chapels within its extensive grounds.