The shrine traces its origin to a
Tendai temple built in the
Asuka period (538 – 710) called Tōnomine-ji, built by the monk (643 – 666). was the oldest son of
Fujiwara no Kamatari (614 – 669), founder of the
Fujiwara clan. located the temple on
Tōnomine, a peak of on the southern side of
Mount Goharetsu (). moved the remains of Kamatari to a 13-story pagoda on the site. During the
Heian period, the temple developed together with the prosperity of the Fujiwara clan. The emperors
Daigo (884 – 930) and
Go-Hanazono (1419 – 1471) attached special reverence to the temple, and bestowed it with various honorifics. Under
shinbutsu-shūgō, a system of
syncretism of
Buddhism and
kami worship, the site was both a Shinto shrine and a Buddhist temple. The Tanzan Shrine and Tōnomine-ji coexisted on the same site. Tōnomine-ji had two subtemples located within its precincts, Myōraku-ji (妙楽寺) and . The shrine received significant financial support from the
Tokugawa bakufu during the
Edo period (1603 – 1868). During the anti-Buddhist
shinbutsu bunri movement after the
Meiji Restoration of 1868, Tanzan Shrine was designated solely as a Shinto shrine dedicated to the worship of the
kami of Fujiwara no Kamatari. The Buddhist structures of the shrine were rededicated as Shinto structures. Under the
Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines, the Tanzan Shrine was designated a
bekkaku kanreisha in 1874, an Imperial shrine of special status. The shrine lost this designation after the abolition of the ranked shrine system after
World War II. ==Structures==