As is known from the song 'Kono yo wo ba Wagayo tozo omo Mochizuki no Kaketaru koto no nashi to omoeba' (The full moon is so perfectly round, it is as though this world is my world) ("Shoyuki" (the diary of FUJIWARA no Sanesuke)), FUJIWARA no Michinaga lived a life of luxury but as he neared the end of his life, concerns about what would happen after his death led him to enter the Buddhist priesthood in 1019 and in the following year begin work on the Muryojuin (Nine Amida Statue hall) that would be the basis of Hojo-ji Temple.
「この世をばわが世とぞ思ふ望月の欠けたることのなしと思へば」（『小右記』）の歌でも知られるように、道長はこの世の栄華を極めたが、死に臨んでは自らの死後を案じ、1019年に出家、翌年には法成寺の礎となる無量寿院の造営に着手した。