Virtual Yokohama City 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Shinsho-ji Temple

     The Tairago Family might have branched out either from Yokoyama Corp, which was one of the Musashi Seven Corps, or from the Miura Clan in the Miura Peninsula in the 10th century.  They were based in Isogo Castle.  #23 Shinsho-ji and #26 Hoshaku-ji Temples used to be their family temples.

     Azuma Kagami (literally, "Mirror of the East") is a Japanese historical chronicle, and Tairago Arinaga is mentioned in it.

     In 1176, the father of Soga Sukenari (1172-1193) was assassinated by Kudo Suketsune (1147-1193).  His mother got remarried to Soga Sukenobu (?-?).  On May 28, 1193, when Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the then shogun, organized a big hunting event, Sukenari assassinated Suketsune.  Arinaga was the first that made a sword fight against Sukenari, who was finally killed by Nitta Tadatsune (1167-1203).  Yoritomo, of course, got furious, losing face, and all the younger brothers of his either were forced to commit suicide or were executed.  Even Sukenari’s lover, Tora, who was a prostitute, was investigated.  She was later found innocent and released.  Sukenari had left her his favorite horse.  With the horse as capital, she retired from prostitution and became a nun.

     Arinaga was seriously injured but made it back to his castle.  He thanked to Vaisravana, made the statue, and presented it to Shinsho-ji Temple.  The statue is still enshrined in the temple although the Tairago Family disappeared from history as the Late Hojo Clan’s power expanded into the area.

     On November 3, 1473, Priest Enchin died.  He might have been powerful.  In 1463, he allocated one third of the annual land tax from Negishi Village to Hosho-ji and Shinsho-ji Temples.  Later in 1626 and in 1649, the Tokugawa Shogunate confirmed the temples’ revenue.

     The Kyotoku War (1455-1483) was in progress.  Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438-1497), the Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, relinquished Kamakura and moved to Koga in 1457.  In 1458, the Muromachi Shogunate sent out another deputy shogun from Kyoto for Kamakura, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura and stayed in Horikoshi, Izu Province.  From then on, there were Koga Deputy Shogun and Horikoshi Deputy Shogun.  On October 14, 1459, the 2 camps had a big battle in Ota Manor, Musashi Province.  How did Enchin have the power to allocate land tax to temples?  Or was it a smokescreen to avoid further deprivation of 2 camps?  I don’t know. If Enchin was a powerful fixer outside the Tairago Family, the one third assured the family of living peacefully.  If Enchin was a member of the family, it means they paid the remaining 2 thirds to live peacefully.  Would you rather use those one third or two thirds as defense expenditure, and be involved in samurai world to succeed in life?  Whatever choice the family had made, later in the 17th century, the lifestyle was guaranteed by the Tokugawa Shogunate as well.

     In the Warring States Period, when the Later Hojo Clan dispatched a large army to Kawagoe to fight a decisive battle against the Uesugi Clan in 1546, they had a few forces left along the sea shores.  The Awa Pirates, based at the southernmost tip of the peninsula across the Edo Bay, took advantage of the military vacuum, intruded into the Isogo area, and plundered everything.  Some even robbed Shinsho-ji Temple of the temple bell.  On their way back across the sea, the bell suddenly started rumbling and the sea got rough and stormy.  Frightened and scared, the pirates threw the bell into the sea, and flew back to Awa.  When you sail across the Tokyo Bay today, listen to the waves.  The bell is still ringing under the sea.  Believe it or not.

Address: 8 Chome-14-12 Isogo, Isogo Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 235-0016Phone: 045-753-5147