[1] Due to this connection, the foundation stones of the Nara period temple overlapping the present day complex were designated as a National Historic Site in 1957.

[2] The Shoku Nihongi records that in 741, as the country recovered from a major smallpox epidemic, Emperor Shōmu ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every province, the kokubunji (国分寺).

[3][4] These temples were built to a semi-standardized template, and served both to spread Buddhist orthodoxy to the provinces, and to emphasize the power of the Nara period centralized government under the Ritsuryō system.

The location was near the kokufu or provincial capital of Suō Province, and the route of the ancient Sanyōdō highway, which connected the Kinai region with Kyushu passed east–west in front of the temple's South Gate.

During a large-scale conservation repair from 1997 to 2004, archaeological excavations found that the Main Hall is built on foundation stones reused from the original Nara period structure.