The northern region of Nara City where Hannya-ji Temple is was the area where the sick and the poor lived who were called 'hinin' (one group comprising the lowest rank of Japan's Edo-period caste system) and discriminated during the medieval period, and near Hannya-ji Temple, there was an institution called 'Kitayama Ju Hachi Kento' (national historic site) that accommodated patients of incurable illnesses such as the Hansen's disease.
般若寺の位置する奈良市街北方地域は、中世には当時「非人」と呼ばれて差別された病者・貧者などの住む地域であり、般若寺の近くには「北山十八間戸」（きたやまじゅうはちけんと、国の史跡）というハンセン病などの不治の病の人を収容する施設もあった。