Although Emperor Shomu built Kokubun-ni-ji Temple with Hokke-ji Temple as a Grand Head Temple in the Nara period, women could not become nuns officially due to prohibition of women's Jukai (handing down the precepts) at Kaidan (Buddhist ordination platform) placed in Japan around the same time and nunnery temples including Kokubun-niji Temple immediately disappeared.
奈良時代に聖武天皇が法華寺を総本山として国分尼寺を建立したが、同時期に日本に設置された戒壇では、女性の授戒を禁じたために、女性は正式に尼になることが出来ず、国分尼寺をはじめとした尼寺もほどなく衰退した。