Noto 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

     When and how Noto 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized is unknown, but it sided to be popular in the Edo Period.  In 2006, a guidebook was published.  The province name, Noto, reminds me of a tragic story:

     Noto was a Japanese Envoy Ship to Balhae, which survived 2 round trips between Japan and Balhae, and which witnessed the most tragic incident in the documented history of Japan-Balhae sea traffic.

     Noto was built in Fukura Port in Noto Province by the spring or by the early summer of 762.  The ship sailed back and forth across the Sea of Japan twice.

     In the spring or in the early summer of 762, Noto set sail from Fukura Port for Balhae with Koma Oyama (?-762), the 6th ambassador of Japan to Balhae, on board.

     On its return trip, Noto had Wang Sin-bog (?-?), Balhae’s ambassador, and 22 other Balhae envoys on board as well as Koma and other Japanese envoys.  Noto sailed back to Sariyoku Port in Kaga County, Echizen Province on October 1 in 762 (or October 26 by the Gregorian calendar).  Tragically, Koma died of a disease at the port.  Surprisingly, Wang was the first civil officer as Balhae’s ambassador.  On January 7 in 763 (or February 27 by the Gregorian calendar), Emperor Junnin (733-765) held an official welcome party with Tang music played.  The Tang dynasty was ruling China, which was the most advanced country in East Asia, and Tang music was the most classic music at the time.  The Emperor had another informal party 10 days later with ethnic flavor.  They played Tibetan, Vietnamese, Eastern (Japanese), Southern (Japanese), and other kinds of music.  In addition, the Emperor had female trainees of the Imperial Music and Dance School sing and dance in front of them, or maybe with them.  Fujiwara Nakamaro (706-764) threw his own private party for the mission members, without knowing he would be driven off from his position and would be killed along with his family next year.  Those luxurious and gorgeous parties had nothing to do with Noto and its crews at all.  Noto was just patiently waiting for the spring to come, when south winds start blowing to send them to Balhae.  In winter, snow closed in all around at Fukura Port.

     In the early summer of 763, Noto left Japan to sail Balhae’s emboys back to their home country.  In Noto’s surprise, no Japanese officers were on board other than Japanese sailors.  After letting Wang and other envoys off along today’s Posyet Bay in Russia, Noto waited for 2 passengers to come from the capital: one was Ko Uchiyumi (?-?), who had mastered phonetics in Balhae, and the other was Kai-yu (?-?), who was a Japanese Buddhist priest who had studied in China.  Ko’s case proved that Japanese people could study something more advanced even in Balhae.  Kai-yu used Balhae as an alternative route from China to Japan.

     September found the passengers at last.  Ko was with his wife, his young son, his baby and the baby’s wet nurse, and Kai-yu was with an “upasaka”; a mysterious man who could survive with having just a very small portion of food every few days.  They were just additional burdens to Noto and its crews.  Having neither Japanese officers nor those of Balhae meant having no capital to bribe local officials to take good care of Noto and its crews.  Although the typhoon season was approaching, Noto and its crews had better set sail for Japan.

     The area which is called Primorsky today never had a typhoon, so Noto’s departure was safe and smooth.  On the day of Noto’s arrival in Japan or on the day before, however, a typhoon came about.  Waves washed a helmsman, and oarsmen away.  Noto was trying hard to keep itself intact, but the captain argued with other sailors and decided to throw 3 females and an upasaka into the rough and wild sea because of their superstition that the god of the sea was angry with those passengers.  Superstition was just superstition.  Noto was at the mercy of winds and waves over 10 more days, and got washed ashore on Oki Island, an island province in the Sea of Japan.

     After its return to Japan, Noto was awarded with the 12th ranking in Japanese aristocratic order and with a beautifully decorated crown for its contribution.  The captain, Itaburi Kamakatsu (?-?), was arrested and imprisoned.  In 764, Fujiwara Nakamaro plotted a counter-coup against the retired Empress Koken, who herself had done a successful coup, and her henchmen in vain.  He was killed, and his henchmen were put into prison.  The prison being crowded, Itaburi was transferred to Omi Province.  What Itaburi had done aboard Noto in the storm has been passed down to today by the transfer document although the original police document has been lost.

     How many days or even years did Noto survive?  Superstitious people might not have dared to destroy it.  They must have left it dilapidating, decaying, and rotting over the years until the memories of the hell Noto had witnessed were dissolved like chips of wood and were concealed under the scattered documents about this incident.