Niu Kanshofu Shrine

Niu Kanshofu Shrine (Niu-Kanshofu-jinja) stands in Kudoyama Town, Ito District, Wakayama Prefecture, at Jison-in below Mount Koya, and is a constituent of the UNESCO World Heritage "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range." The main enshrined deities are Niutsuhime-no-Okami and Kariba-no-Myojin, identified in shrine tradition as the local deities who guided Kobo Daishi Kukai to Mount Koya. According to the temple-shrine origin record Koyasan Engi, Kukai received the protection of Niutsuhime when he opened the Koyasan precinct in 816 CE. The shrine is recorded in the Engishiki (927 CE) jinmyocho of the Ito district of Kii Province as "Niu-jinja." It served as the primary guardian shrine for the Koyasan pilgrimage and was a key starting point of the Choishi-michi pilgrim route. The medieval main halls (Muromachi period) are Important Cultural Properties.