Santo Shrine is also known as Kumano Shrine because of the many people who visited the shrine on their pilgrimages to Kishu Kumano. Long ago, some people believed in the syncretization of Shintoism and Buddhism. There was a time when Shinto gods and Buddhist Bodhisattva were worshiped at the same place. Legend has it that Santo Shrine was founded in the 7th century, and although it was burned down in a war, it was rebuilt within Konzoji Temple in the 16th century by a monk named Teikan. Years later, when the Meiji government created a law enforcing the separation of Shintoism and Buddhism, Konzoji was destroyed, leaving Santo Shrine behind.