Mt. Kunou is a steep mountain 216 meters high (709 feet) high located on Suruga Bay, Shizuoka Prefecture. In the Asuka Period Kunou Tadahito of the Fujiwara Clan began building a temple near present-day Kunou-zan Toushou-guu which the monk Gyouki named Kunou Temple in the later Nara Period.

In 1570 Takeda Shingen built Kunou Castle there, moving the temple to what is now Shimizu Ward. The Tokugawa Clan took control of Suruga Province after the fall of the Takeda Clan and continued to maintain the fortifications on Mt. Kunou. After Tokugawa Ieyasu's death, his son Tokugawa Hidetaka erected the first Toushou Shrine on Mt. Kunou and buried Ieyasu there. Though Ieyasu's grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu relocated Ieyasu’s grave to the Nikkou Toushou-guu, it is held that a portion of his deified spirit remains on Mt. Kunou.