The Konpon Daito was a fundamental part of Priest Kukai's layout of the Garan, and is the pagoda on the eas side of the Kondo. Priest Kukai began consruction of the Konpon Daito soon after 816, but was not completed before he entered eternal meditation.

The work of building the Daito was taken up and completed by Shinzen, his disciple and successor at Koyasan around 887. The building was destroyed and rebuilt many times. The current tower was reconstructed in 1934.

It is about 50m tall, 30m wide and deep.

Konpon Daito enshrines a three-dimensional mandala, with large wooden statues of Dainichi Nyorai (Mahavairocana) of the Matrix Realm surrounded by the Four BUddhas of the Diamond Realm, with the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas painted on the sixteen pillars around them. On the walls in the corners are portraits of the eight partriarchs of the Shingon Buddhist Lineage.