Having been a rival in most matters with Kukai, the monk of To-ji Temple, on being defeated by him in a competition for inducing rainfall by prayer when a draught hit in 824, he shot an arrow at Kukai, but its path was interrupted by a Jizo Bosatsu (Jizo Bodhisattva).
東寺の僧空海とは何事にも対立していたとされ、824年（弘仁15年）の干ばつのときに神泉苑での雨乞いの儀式に於いて空海に敗れ、空海に矢を放ったが地蔵菩薩に阻まれた。