[1] Mount Kunō (216 meters) is a steep peak on Suruga Bay, and the site of an ancient Buddhist temple called Kunō-ji (久能寺) dating to at least the early Nara period.

The temple prospered during the Kamakura period under the famous prelate Enni, who introduced the cultivation of green tea to the region.

The 3rd shōgun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, relocated Ieyasu's grave to the Nikkō Tōshō-gū, but a portion of his deified spirit was held to still reside on Mount Kunō.

[2] With the overthrow of the Tokugawa by the new Meiji government, and the subsequent separation of Buddhism and Shintō, the Kunōzan Tōshō-gū suffered the loss of a number of its structures and much of its revenue.

Secondary kami, enshrined after the start of the Meiji period, are the spirits of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobunaga.