It is said that when the monk Gyokyo of Daian-ji Temple visited Usa-jingu Shrine, he acted as an oracle and transmitted the message 'move near to the capital for the protection of the state', and that a holy light that he saw at the remains of Emperor Saga's Imperial villa signaled him to dig on the spot from which a spring gushed forth from between the rocks.
大安寺の僧行教が宇佐神宮に参詣した折に「われ都の近くに移座し国家を鎮護せん」と神託をし、嵯峨天皇の離宮跡であるこの地にきた時、霊光を見て、掘ってみると岩間から湧き水が出たという。