Also Niutsuhime Myōjin 丹生都比売明神. A female mountain deity that resides in Mt. Kōya 高野. According to legend *Kūkai 空海 (774-835, see *Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師) received permission from Niu Myōjin through an oracle to build Kongōbuji 金剛峯寺, his monastery on Mt. Kōya, in 816. In many variants of the legend Niu Myōjin's son (or emanation) *Kariba Myōjin 狩場明神 (also known as Kōya Myōjin 高野明神) appeared as a hunter who led Kūkai to the site. Niu Myōjin and Kariba Myōjin were adopted as the guardians chinju 鎮守 of the monastery and, with two other deities added later, were worshipped at the Amano Jinja 天野神社, presently Niutsuhime Jinja 丹生都比売神社, as Kōya Shisho Gongen 高野四所権現 or Kōya Shisha Myōjin 高野四社明神. The word niu is found in the names of places associated with the mining of mercury ore (cinnabar). Scholars suggest that Niu Myōjin may have been the deity of clans who did such mining. Mt. Kōya has, for the purposes of mandalas, sixteen peaks, which are represented as eight inner and eight outer petals, and these works combine the Matrix Mandala *Taizōkai mandara 胎蔵界曼荼羅 and Diamond World Mandala *Kongōkai mandara 金剛界曼荼羅. These last two are the diagrams of the two aspects of *Dainichi 大日 representing the realms of dynamic enlightenment and wisdom respectively. The bonji 梵字 (Siddham letters that are the sound symbol of the deity) for these two forms of Dainichi may appear on paintings of Niu Myōjin and her son when they are represented as Shinto deities *kami 神. In paintings Nui Myōjin may be shown in Japanese court dress or in Chinese dress and may appear alone, with Kariba, or in larger groups.