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He was banished by the Imperial Court to Izu Ōshima on June 26, 699, but folk tales at least as old as the Nihon Ryōiki (c 800) recount his supernatural powers and exploits. He also referred to by the name En no Gyōja (役行者, "En the ascetic"), En no Ubasoku (役優婆塞, "En the lay monk"), or under the full name En no Kimi Ozunu, where Kimi (君) is his kabane or titular name. Later, envied his power and accused him of trickery with his weird magic. banished him far.
En no Gyōja was conferred the posthumous title Jinben Daibosatsu (Great Bodhisattva Jinben, 神変大菩薩) at a ceremony held in 1799 to commemorate the one-thousandth year of his passing.
Authorship of the non-canonical Sutra on the Unlimited Life of the Threefold Body is attributed to En no Gyōja. Due to his mythical status as a mountain saint, he was believed to possess many supernatural powers.
In the historical fantasy novel Teito Monogatari by Hiroshi Aramata the protagonist Yasunori Kato claims to be a descendant of En no Gyōja. In the manga OZN by Shiro Ohno the protagonist is a superheroic version of En no Ozunu.
In the SNES game Shin Megami Tensei, an Non-Player Character named En-no-ozuno resides in Kongokai.
In the PS1 game Oni Zero: Fukkatsu, the main antagonist is En no Gyōja. In Koji Suzuki"s novel Ring, Sadako"s mother drags a statuette of En no Ozunu from the sea.
