Much like Shuten Doji (known in his boyhood as "Gedomaru," meaning "Apostate Boy"), who was famous for his good looks and received huge numbers of love-letters from the girls in the neighborhood, Ibaraki Doji was also said to be a very handsome youth, wooed by many young ladies in his area, leading his mother, anxious over his spiritual future, to send him off to Yahiko-jinja Shrine.
美男子で知られ娘たちから山ほど恋文を送られていた外道丸こと酒呑童子同様、茨木童子も美少年として多くの女性に言い寄られ、将来を案じた母親に弥彦神社に送られることになった。