Fujiwara Sada-ie(pen name, Teika) was born in 1162 and lived to the age  of 79. He was a prolific writer, and his continuous diary covering 56 years remains as a national treasure of Japan. He wrote a travel diary on a journey from his home in the north of Japan to Kumano. In Teika's Kumano-Gokoki, he wrote, "I traveled over mountains to Maro Oji after visiting Akitsu Oji."

In present-day Tanabe, there are no mountains other than the small mountain where Susa Shrine is located alomg the route from Akitsu Oji to Maro Oji, so it is not clear what area Teika was referring to. The deity of Maro Oji was enshrined in Susa Shrine in 1877, and the shrine precincts became rice fields. A sign showing the location of Maro Oji is in the middle of an  ume plum orchard fifty meters north of Kumano Bridge.