Many pilgrims searching for Mt. Yudono are confused by the presence of two sites bearing the name “Yudonosan Shrine.” The distinction lies in the full designation of this site: Hondoji’s Yudonosan Shrine, formerly known as Hondoji Temple.

According to tradition, the site was founded in 825 on the orders of Kobo Daishi, following his visit to Mt. Yudono in 809. Located on the eastern approach to the sacred mountain, Hondoji served as an essential passage point for pilgrims traveling from the inland regions of Yamagata Prefecture, playing a key role in the circulation of mountain worship.

At its peak, the temple complex included twenty shukubo lodgings and welcomed more than 30,000 pilgrims during a single summer season, reflecting the scale and vitality of pilgrimage activity centered on Mt. Yudono.

This religious landscape was profoundly altered in the late nineteenth century. During the Boshin War in 1868, a fire destroyed the main hall and many associated buildings. In the years that followed, the construction of roads and railways further transformed the site, marking a shift from a pilgrimage-centered sacred space to a modernized landscape.