Virtual Yokohama City 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Tofuku-ji Temple

     Emperor Go-Saga (1220-1272) retired in 1246, and built temples as a kind of a part of pardon.  Tofuku-ji Temple was  founded by Priest  Genshi as one of them.  Ota Dokan (1432-1486) is known to have supported the temple.  It used to be located at the seashore.  In the late 16th century, the area was intruded and robbed by the Awa Pirates many times.  So was the temple.  The temple finally was burned down in 1576.  In 1607, it moved to the present place.

     What were Awa Pirates like?  Who were they?

     Minamoto Yoriyoshi (988-1075) was born in Kawachi Province near Kyoto, fought around the Kanto Plain and even into Tohoku District, and died peacefully in Kawachi Province.  Yoriyoshi’s son, Yoshiie (1039-1106), was born in Kawachi Province, fought around the Kanto Plain, and died in Kawachi Province.  It is not known where Yoshiie’s son, Yoshikuni (1091?-1155), was born.  He fought around the Kanto Plain and died in Ashikaga County, Shimotsuke Province in the plain.  Yoshikuni’s son, Yoshishige (1114-1202), was presumably born somewhere in the plain, called his family Nitta, and died in Nitta County, Kozuke Province in the plain.  Yoshishige’s illegitimate son, Yoshitoshi (?-1170), moved to Satomi Village, Usui County, Kozuke Province in the plain, and called his family Satomi.

     12 generations later, Satomi Yoshimichi (1481?-1521?) unified Awa Province and raided Kazusa Province, which lay north to Awa Province, both in the Boso Peninsula.  It means the Satomi Clan had moved from inland provinces to the coastal one by his time.

      According to a scattering of historical documents, Satomi Yoshimichi (1481?-1521?) built Tsurugaya Hachiman-gu Shrine in Awa Province in 1508, which means that he had gained control over the province as samurai.  In 1514, he re-casted the bell for the affiliated temple of the shrine.  In 1515, he intruded Shimotsuke Province, which lay even north to Kazusa Province..

     Satomi Sanetaka (1484?-1533), Yoshimichi’s brother, attacked Shinagawa and Imazu, port towns of Edo Castle, in 1524 from the sea.  He also landed Mutsura at the root of Miura Peninsula, approached Tamanawa Castle, which lay at the north-west gateway to Kamakura, and had a battle across Tobe River near the castle.  In 1526, he intruded Kamakura again, burnt down Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine, which had been built by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), and robbed the shrine of the treasure it had kept.  Sanetaka’s son, Yoshitaka (1507?-1574), staged a military coup, forced Yoshitoyo (?-1534), who was Yoshimichi’s son and, that is, Yoshitaka’s cousin, forced Yoshitoyo into a suicide, and usurped the headship of the clan.

      While the Satomi Clan was developing its own history, the Kanto region was plunging into another epoch under the Muromachi Shogunate.  Kanto Deputy Shogun used to be based at Kamakura.  The fourth deputy shogun, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), turned against the central shogunate in Kyoto in 1423.  He was defeated, and his son, Shigeuji (1434-1497), got based at Koga in Shimousa Province.  The central shogunate sent Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491) to Kanto, appointing him as a new deputy shogun in Kanto, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura, obstructed by some powerful Kanto samurais, and got based at Horigoe in Izu Province.  That is, the Kanto deputy shogunate was divided into 2.

     In 1517, when Ashikaga Takamoto (?-1535) was Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun, his younger brother, Yoshiaki(1493?-1538), turned against Takamoto, and got based at Oyumi in Shimousa Province.  That is, the Kanto deputy shogunate got divided into 3.  Meanwhile, the Uesugi Clan, which was hereditary for the butler-ship of the Kanto Deputy Shogun, was keeping its own authority.  In short, Kanto got into a mess.  And, to make the matters worse, Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519) came from Kyoto to make a warring-states-period hero, and joined in the mess.

     In 1523, Ise Ujitsuna (1487-1541), the son of Shinkuro (1432-1519), changed his surname to Hojo.  In 1532, as Ujitsuna was joining forces with Ashikaga Takamoto, Kanto Deputy Shogun in Koga, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Kanto Deputy Shogun in Oyumi, was becoming the only choice for Satomi Yoshitoyo (?-1534) to face the Later Hojo Clan.  In 1534, however, or as a result, Satomi Yoshitaka (1507?-1574), Yoshitoyo’s cousin, launched coup d’etat against Yoshitoyo with the help of Ujitsuna.

     However, Yoshitaka was always under the pressure of Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, and went over to Yoshiaki’s side.  In 1538, Oyumi and Koga Kanto Deputy Shoguns clashed against each other in Konodai.  Yoshiaki was killed in the battle, and Koga’s side won.  The biggest winner in the battle was Ujitsuna.  He made Takamoto his puppet, and grabbed the hegemony over all the southern part of Kanto but Awa Province.  The minor second winner of the battle was, ironically enough, Yoshitaka, who belonged to the loser’s side.  He could secure Awa Province at least, and could get rid of Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, who had been a pain in the neck.  In the aftermath of the battle, the Later Hojo Clan and the Satomi Clan were to fight against each other head-to-head.

     By that time, the Later Hojo Clan had destroyed the Miura Clan, and organized their own sea forces.  Some of the Miura Sea Forces fled to Awa Province, and got hired by the Satomi Clan’s vassals, such as Masaki Michitsuna (1492?-1533).  Or Michitsuna himself might have been a surviving retainer of Miura’s.  Anyway, from that time on, the Izu Sea Forces of the Later Hojo Clan and the Satomi Sea Forces were to face each other head-to-head across the Edo and Sagami Bays.

      In 1539, Satomi Yoshitaka (1507?-1574) attacked Ariyoshi Castle in Kazusa Province, which was on the Later Hojo Clan’s side.  In revenge, in 1540, the Later Hojo Clan started attacking the Satomi Clan’s stronghold domain, Awa Province, with the Izu Sea Forces.  Between 1541 and 1542, Yoshitaka had to move his headquarters from Inamura Castle in Awa Province to Kururi Castle in the inland-most center of Boso Peninsula in Kazusa Province.  Did he advance into another larger province?  Or did he have to retreat his defense line from the seashore?

      In 1574, Yanada Harusuke (1524-1594), a standard-bearer of anti-Later-Hojo forces, surrendered Sekiyado Castle, which Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571) had valued, “To occupy the castle is as valuable as to win one province.”  The castle was at the junction of 2 major river systems in the Kanto Plain, Tone-Watarase river system and Kinu river system, and was an important point of the water transportation in the region at that time.

     After the conquest, the Later Hojo Clan started its full-scale invasion of Boso Peninsula.  The Izu Sea Forces of the clan defeated the Satomi Sea Forces, and the Later Hojo Clan gained the naval superiority in Edo Bay.  In 1577, the Satomi Clan had to accept a peace treaty, and substantially retreated from Kazusa Province.

     Tofuku-ji Temple seems to have been caught up in the sea battles between the Later Hojo and Satomi Clans.  The Awa Pirates might have been the Satomi Sea Forces.  Or they could have been gangs of armed fishers, as there were many gangs of armed farmers across inland fields and hills in the Warring States Period.

     Now, let’s get back to the main subject, Tofuku-ji Temple.  By the beginning of the Meiji Period, the temple was deserted.  Fusejima Chikazo (1837-1901) felt sorry for that, and financially supported it.

Chikazo had been born in Yabutsuka Village, Nitta County, Kozuke Province during the Edo Period as a son of a landowner.

     In 1865, he moved to Yokohama and worked for Walsh and Company, which had been founded by American brothers, Thomas Walsh (1827-1900) and John Glia Walsh (1829-1897).  Later, as an independent successful businessman, he strived for the development of Yokohama.  He made a tunnel to get clean water in Hatsune, excavated new canals known as New-Yoshida and New-Fujimi Rivers, cut tunnels, and built bridges.  The memorial monuments for him are in Hiki Shrine in Yokohama City and in Ota City.

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