Honmyoji Temple of the Fudosan School was founded in 1592 by the monk Shingetsu. Although it was burned down and fell into ruin during the wars at the end of the Sengoku period and the early 17th century, it was later restored by the monk Honmyokai.  

About Honmyokai-shonin, Mt. Yudono's first Sokushinbutsu

Honmyokai was born in 1623 as the second son of Saito Tokuzemon, a samurai of the Shonai Domain. He was later adopted by the Togashi family, which held a stipend of 70 koku, and took the name Togashi Kichibee. In 1661, when Lord Sakai Tadamasa suffered from an eye disease, Honmyokai went to Mt. Yudono to pray for his recovery. He visited both Churenji Temple and Yudonosan Shrine, performing repeated prayers and ascetic practices until the lord was healed.  

Afterward, Togashi Kichibee continued his training at Mt. Yudono and never returned to the domain, resulting in his dismissal. In 1662, he entered Churenji and took the name Honmyokai. As his spiritual virtue became widely known even in the castle town of Tsuruoka, the lord forgave his former offense and reinstated Honmyokai’s two sons as samurai, each with a stipend of 70 koku. 

When Honmyoji Temple was rebuilt, it too received a donation of 70 koku.  In 1673, Honmyokai began a thousand-day fast abstaining from all grains, followed by another thousand days without even the ten staple grains. He then survived for five more months eating only thin pine bark.

At the age of 61, in 1683, he entered the earth alive within the temple grounds. According to his will, his body was exhumed three years and three months later and found to have become a sokushinbutsu (a self-mummified monk).  

Within the temple grounds are the Main Hall, the Sokushinbutsu Hall, a bell tower, the site where Honmyokai entered the earth, and numerous stone monuments and statues of Buddha, all creating an atmosphere befitting a sacred place.