When the separation of Buddhism and Shinto occurred during the Meiji period, the Buddhist deity Gozu Tenno was removed from this shrine to leave only the Shinto deity Susanoo but during this time there were also many other shrines from which Buddhist terms such as 'Gion' and 'Gozu Tenno' were removed from the shrine name - including the head shrine in Kyoto which had its name changed from Gion-jinja Shrine to Yasaka-jinja Shrine.
明治に神仏分離が行われた際、仏教の神である牛頭天王は祭神から外され神道の神であるスサノオが残ったが、同時に多くの神社名から仏教用語の「祇園」や「牛頭天王」が外され、総本社である京都の祇園神社も八坂神社と改名された。