A guardian deity of the head and brain enshrined at Ryuoin, a sub-temple of Kinpusen-ji, located along a mountain stream at the valley floor reached by descending approximately 450 steep stone steps west of the Zao-do hall. The faith dates to 1951, when the then head priest of Kinpusen-ji enshrined the spirit of a serpent found with its head split open. Worshipped as the "Guardian of the Head," or…

Nouten Okami is a shrine belonging to Ryuoin, a sub-temple of Kinpusen-ji, the head temple of Shugendo standing on Mount Yoshino. Kinpusen-ji itself is said to have been founded in the 7th century by the ascetic En no Gyoja, and the Yoshino area has long flourished as a sacred site of syncretized Sh…