En no Gyoja En no Gyōja ( 役行者 ) , aka En no Ozunu ( 役小角 ) , born 634 , was a Japanese ascetic and mystic , traditionally held to be the founder of Shugendō , a conglomerate religion incorporating aspects of Taoism , Shinto , esoteric Buddhism ( especially Shingon Mikkyo and the Tendai sect but some Zen sects have also been heard of ) and traditional Japanese shamanism . He is venerated as a bosatsu ( bodhisattva , or pursuer of enlightenment ) Jinben Dai . Authorship of the non-canonical Sutra on the Unlimited Life of the Threefold Body is attributed to En no Gyōja . In Koji Suzuki 's novel Ring , Shizuko Yamamura draws a statuette of En no Gyōja up from the sea , upon which she receives supernatural powers such as precognition . Because her daughter Sadako was born with these powers , some have suggested that En no Gyōja ( referred to as En no Ozunu in the novel ) is in fact Sadako 's father .  This Japanese biographical article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it .  This Buddhism -related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : Japanese people stubs | Buddhism stubs | 634 births | 706 deaths In other languages : 日本語 