Hayao Shrine

It is located halfway up Mt. Nagara, and Takehaya Susano no Mikoto is enshrined in the main hall with hip-and-gable roofs. Sarutahiko is also enshrined in the same building as the associated deity. On the left as you face it, there is Kotayusha Shrine in which Otomo no Yota O, a child of Prince Otomo, is enshrined. According to the shrine’s history, it originated as a tutelary of Miidera Temple when Chisho Daishi Enchin restored Miidera during the Jogan Era [859–877], by sharing this shrine’s sacred spirit from Hayaosha, one of the auxiliary shrines of Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine in Sakamoto. Moreover, according to Omi Yochi Shiryaku, [a topography of Omi], “the tutelary deity is the same as that of Hayaosha Shrine, one of the seven auxiliary shrines of Hiyoshi Taisha Shrine. An old story says that Hayao Myojin was the tutelary of Sufukuji Temple. Details of how it was enshrined in this place is unknown. According to a monk, Fudo Myo-o transformed into a form of a Japanese Shinto deity, Hayao Myojin.” This shows that Yamagami Fudos-son enshrined under the valley to the south of the precinct and this shrine were in a relationship of the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism.