According to this version of legend, Shuten Doji was born in the Province of Echigo in the early Heian Period, a contemporary of the famous Japanese Buddhist leaders Denkyo Hoshi (Saicho) and Kobo Daishi (Kukai), and became a page of Kokujo-ji Temple (Tsubame City, Niigata Prefecture) (there is a path called 'Chigo Do,' or literally Page's Path, at the foot of Mt. Kugami, which is believed to have been used by Shuten Doji).
伝教法師（最澄）や弘法大師（空海）が活躍した平安初期（8世紀）に越後国で生まれた彼は、国上寺（新潟県燕市）の稚児となった（国上山麓には彼が通ったと伝えられる「稚児道」が残る）。