Japan has a number of people who are considered to be saints. One of them, Ippen, had a profound revelation at Oyunohara in the summer of 1274. Ippen, a priest of the Jishu sect of Pure Land Buddhism (jodo), traveled around the country offering paper talismans to believers. Until Ippen's revelation, he had always given the talismans to believers of Buddhism, but after worshipping at Oyunohara, dedicated to the god Ketsumiko-no-okami (identified with the Amida Buddha), he came to understand it didn't matter to the gods whether one was a believer or not. The idea that anyone, regardless of purity, gender or social position can make the pilgrimage is at the heart of Kumano.