Ishimuro Shrine (Izu, Japan)

According to one of a few ancient legends, a Japanese ascetic and mystic named En-no-Ozunu visited the Izu Peninsula in the year 700 with a statue of the Eleven-Headed Kannon (bodhisattva of mercy who protects people from illness and helps them secure food and wealth).

During his visit, there was a huge earthquake at which time a dragon and a swan appeared at the tip of Cape Irozaki. The dragon guarded the huge rock at the top of the cliffs, and the swan guarded the shoreline below the cliffs. The night before the earthquake, one villager had a dream where he saw the shrine emerge from the sea and settle in the cave halfway up the cliffs.

Upon hearing these stories from the astonished villagers, En-no-Ozunu set out to find this mysterious shrine with the Kannon statue in hand.

En-no-Ozunu reached the cape and found the shrine tucked into the side of the cliffs where he then placed the Kannon statue in the shrine where it became enshrined and worshiped by the local villagers and fishermen.