Saeki no Ariyori (佐伯有頼)
SAEKI no Ariyori (approx 676 - 759) was son of SAEKI no Ariwaka, an officer of Ecchu Province in the Asuka period. It is believed that, having received a spiritual message, he climbed Mt. Tate and founded a great sacred ground for the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism there. He took the name Jiko when he entered into the priesthood.
The Legend of Shirataka (white hawk)
When Ariyori went hunting, taking his father's white hawk without permission, a bear suddenly appeared and scared the hawk away. When he shot an arrow at the bear, the bear ran away bleeding. He followed blood marks on the ground towards a cave, and looked inside with his bow and arrow at the ready, and found Amida Nyorai (Amitabha Tathagata) who had an arrow stuck in his body. Amida Nyorai told Ariyori, who was grieving about what he had done, that the hawk was an incarnation of the God of Mt. Tate who was sent to guide him to Amida Nyorai and that he should become a priest and found a temple on Mt.Tate. Ariyori, having pledged to dedicate his life to Mt. Tate, went down the mountain to tell his father, Ariwaka, of his vocation, and he became a priest, changed his name to Jiko and made a great effort to found the temple on Mt. Tate.
After he died, he was enshrined as a deity in the Tate-yama Wakamiya Shrine of the Oyama-jinja Shrine. Some ancient documents describe that his grave is in the Miyaji district of Tateyama Town.
Many cottage owners and mountain guides around Mt. Tate and Mt. Tsurugi have the surname of SAEKI and are said to be descendants of Ariyori.
Ariyori-kun Mascot
Ariyori-kun is a mascot character modeled on SAEKI no Ariyori, which has been used by shops along the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route since the mascot character was created in 2006.