Houn-ji Temple is a Soto sect temple located near Byodo River which flows through Kasugai-cho in Fuefuki City. According to temple records, it was built in 1441 during the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), and it is written in Kai Kokushi (Official Records of Kai Province) that the temple houses the mortuary tablet of Shosoin, the wife of Takeda Shingen’s grandfather Takeda Nobunawa.
The wooden images of Yakushi Nyorai and Nikko/Gakko Bosatsu that are enshrined in Houn-ji Temple were brought from Chinmoku-ji, a temple that was located in the same Shizume area in Kasugai-cho as Houn-ji Temple but was abolished in the Meiji Period (1868-1912). Documents received from the Takeda and Tokugawa Clans had also been stored in the temple, but they have been lost in two fires that broke out during the Warring States Period (1467–1603) and Edo Period (1603-1868).
A countless number of millstones are buried in a row in the center of the approach, and a simple, round-stone Dosojin image is also found on the side of the approach. The entire temple complex, while small in scale, also displays the typical Zen style of temple complexes, with a gallery connecting the Sanmon Gate and bell tower and the Somon Gate and main hall arranged in a straight line.