In enumerating the officially recognized shrines throughout the rest of the country the Yengishiki unfortunately, in the great majority of cases, does not name the God, but only the locality where the shrine was situated, as when we speak of Downing Street, meaning the collective officialdom of the place. This is in accordance with the impersonal habit of the Japanese mind already referred to. Strange to say, in some even of the most popular shrines, the identity of the God is doubtful or unknown. Kompira is a conspicuous example. According to some he is a demon, the alligator of the Ganges. Others say that Buddha himself became "the boy Kompira" in order to overcome the heretics and enemies of religion who pressed upon him one day as he was preaching. The mediæval Shintoists identified him with Susa no wo. More recently it has been declared officially that he is really Kotohira, an obscure Shinto deity, whose name has a resemblance in sound to that of the Indian God. His popularity has been little affected by these changes.[188]
In 965 a selection of sixteen of the more important shrines was made to which special offerings were sent. These were as follows:--
| Name of Shrine. | Province. | God or Gods Worshipped. |
| Ise. | Ise. | Sun-Goddess and Food-Goddess. |
| Ihashimidzu. | Yamashiro. | Hachiman, Jingō. |
| Kamo. | Do. | ? |
| Matsunowo. | Do. | Thunder-God. |
| Hirano. | Do. | Probably Gods of the Cooking Furnace and New Rice. |
| Inari. | Do. | Food-Goddess. |
| Kasuga. | Yamato. | Koyane and his wife, Take mika-dzuchi, Futsunushi. |
| Ohoharano. | Yamashiro. | Do. |
| Miha. | Yamato. | Ohonamochi. |
| Oho-yamato. | Do. | Do. |
| Isonokami. | Do. | Futsu no mitama (a deified sword). |
| Hirose. | Do. | Food-Goddess. |
| Tatsuta. | Do. | Wind-Gods. |
| Sumiyoshi. | Settsu. | Sea-deities. |
| Nifu. | -- | Doubtful. |
| Kibune. | Yamashiro. | Rain-dragon-God. |
In 991 there were added the three following:--
| Name of Shrine. | Province. | God or Gods Worshipped. |
| Yoshida. | Yamashiro. | Same as Kasuga. |
| Hirota. | Settsu. | Sun-Goddess's ara-tama. |
| Kitano. | Yamashiro. | Temmangū. |
In 994 there was added