Roughly 1,300 years ago, En-no-Gyoja, a sorcerer, felt a presence on Mr. Kongo. After a long stint of ascetic training, he built Kongozan Temporinji temple at the top of Mt. Kongo. When construction was complete, he enshrined Hitokotonushi no Okami, his own ancestor, as the local deity of Katsuragi Shrine. Kongozan was believed to have been founded as a mixed Shinto and Buddhist shrine.