It was believed in the Edo period that the principal image of the Otori-jinja Shrine was Shaka (Buddha) standing on the back of an eagle (on the basis of the honji-suijaku-setsu [the theory of original reality and manifested traces, according to which Shinto gods are manifestations of Buddhas] under the concept of shinbutsu-shugo [the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism]).
江戸時代には、大鷲神社の本尊（神仏習合本地垂迹説）は鷲の背に乗った釈迦とされた。