En no Ozunu (役小角) lived during the Asuka Period, perhaps from 634-701AD.

He was born with the name Kamo-no-e-no-kimi, but over his life he gathered many others such as En no Gyōja (役行者 En the pilgrim) and Jinben Daibosatsu (Great Bodhisatva of Heavenly Change) and En no Ozunu (En the Pilgrim).

He is the founder of the religion known as Shugendō, a religion whose practitioners would later train the Ninja in their skills. Due to this he is considered an honored ancestor of the Ninja.

Ozunu has many fantastical stories attributed to him. His birth being just the same. It is said from the moment he was born he could hold conversations with people, that he was born with a horn protruding from his skull and that he was born holding a flower in one hand.

Long years of meditation in the mountain got him the name En no Gyoja, and he eventually founded the religion of Shugendō on Mount Katsuragi in Nara Prefecture.

The new religions quickly gained a lot of growth. This growth worried the current Emperor Monmu, who feared the new religion could pose a threat to his power, and so he has Ozunu exiled for three years to the island of Izu Ōshima.

Despite his exile it is said that he very often climb to the summit of Mount Fuji to meditate. In total, he is said to have scaled the mountain over 1000 times, and even learned a magical mantra known as the ‘Peacock King’ on the slopes of Mount Fuji.

This new mantra gives him the ability to fly along the clouds so he could start to spend time between Heaven and Earth.

Ozunu is said to have had several other supernatural powers. These powers included, being able to walk on water, the ability ot subsist on nothing but air and mist; and also the ability to shapeshift into a tiger.

Legends say numerous attempts on his life were made throughout his life, but the axes used to try and kill him always smashed and broke upon coming into contact with his head.

Some sources say that in the year 701 he reached enlightenment and walked across the ocean to China. Some others say he ascended to Heaven in a Buddhist alms bowl with his mother.

Other accounts say he still walks in the mountains as a Sennin ‘Great Immortal,’ who watches over the Yamabushi to this day.

Centuries after his death, the Yamabushi built a dojo on a Koga Mountain called Honda-san in his honor as they believed this was where he once had lived.