Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Fukuju-ji Temple

      Fukuju-ji Temple was built in 1200 by Miura Yoshimura (?-1239) and was founded in 1212 by Priest Keishuku.  The main deity is the Arya Avalokitesvara statue, which is said to have been carved by Gyoki (668-749).  The temple also keeps Yoshimura’s saddle, armor, and short sword.

     The Miura Clan was destroyed by the Hojo Clan after Yoshimura’s death.

Address: 2062 Minamishitauramachi, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0103

Phone: 046-886-0101

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #6 Fukusen-ji Kannon-do Temple

      It is unknown when Kannon-ji Temple was founded here.  It has been abolished as a temple and has been maintained as Kannon-do of Fukusen-ji Temple.  It enshrines the Arya Avalokitesvara statue as the main deity.

Address: Matsuwa-320 Minamishitauramachi, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0104

Phone: 046-886-1149

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #5 Kaio-ji Temple

      The area used to be called Aonori, literally Green Laver.  Long time ago, an Arya Avalokitesvara statue was washed ashore.  People built a small cabin to enshrine the statue and to pray for the marine safety.  The statue has been moved to Kaio-ji Temple, which has 2 other Avalokitesvara statues.  It is unknown why and how the two have been accumulated in the temple.

Address: 1936 Minamishitauramachi, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0105

Phone: 046-881-5718 

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #4 Daichin-ji Temple

      Daichin-ji Temple was built at the site of the Camellia Villa of Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate.

     Yoritomo had a concubine named Taeko.  As the lawful wife of Yoritomo, Hojo Masako (1157-1225), was so jealous that Yoritomo sheltered Taeko in the Camellia Villa.  After Yoritomo’s death, she made the villa a temple, Daichin-ji, namely Big Camellia Temple. We can find the grave of hers near the temple even today.

Address: 11-1 Mukogasakicho, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0233

Phone: 046-881-3572

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Renjo-in Temple

      The wife of Miura Yoshiatsu (1451-1516) built a small hermitage, Renjo-in Hermitage, to pray for the repose of her late husband after he was killed as the last head of the clan and as the leader of the beseiged army in the Arai Castle.  The main deity, the image of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, was believed to have been carved by Genshin (942-1017), and was the guardian Buddhist image of Yoshiatsu.

     Who were the Miura Clan, and by whom were they killed?

     Taira Takamochi (?-?), a great grandson of Emperor Kanmu (737-806), left the Imperial Family, became a subject, and moved from Kyoto to Kazusa Province as the vice-governor in 889.  His son, Yoshibumi (?-?), inhabited in Muraoka Village, somewhere in Kanto.  Yoshibumi’s grandson, Tamemichi (1010?-1083?), was awarded Miura County in Sagami Province from Minamoto Yoshiyori (988-1075).  Henceforth, they called themselves Miura.

     Since then, the Miura Clan survived countless wars, battles, fights, and conflicts until they were finally destroyed by the Later Hojo Clan in 1516.  It was this last three years that we can find evidence that the clan had strong enough sea forces to hold their castle on a tiny island just off the tip of Miura Peninsula.

     In 1180, when Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) raised an army to fight the Taira Clan, all the Miura Clan banded together to support Yoritomo.  In the first battle at the foot of Mt. Ishibashi, one clan member, Sanada Yoshitada (1155-1180), was killed.  The clan’s stronghold, Kinugasa Castle, was attacked by Hatakeyama Shigetada (1164-1205), and Miura Yoshiaki (1092-1180), Tameyoshi’s great great grandson, was killed in the battle.  His son, Yoshizumi (1127-1200), fled across the sea to Awa Province, taking almost the same route that Yamato Takeru, an ancient Japanese legendary prince, took on his conquest of the eastern land.  This coincidence implies that powerful enough sea people had been there since ancient times.

     About half a century after the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, the Miura Clan lost conspiratorial power struggles against the Hojo Clan, and its 260 samurais and over 240 followers and family members committed a mass suicide in front of Yoritomo’s portrait painting enshrined in Hokke-do Temple in Kamakura.

     At the end of the Kamakura Shogunate, Miura Tokitsugu (?-1335) followed Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358), who would later be the first shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate in 1336.  In 1333, the Kamakura Shogunate collapsed, and Tokitsugu was awarded with steward samurai positions in Musashi and Sagami Provinces.  However, when Hojo Tokiyuki (?-1353), the son of Takatoki (1303-1333), the last Regent of the Kamakura Shogunate, took arms against Takauji, Tokitsugu took Tokiyuki’s side only to be defeated by Takauji and to be slashed to death.  Tokitsugu was succeeded by his son, Takatsugu (?-1339), who had taken Takauji’s side.

     In 1416, when one third of the Muromachi Era had passed, the Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), and his butler, Uesugi Zenshu (?-1417), got at war, Miura Takaaki (?-?) took Mochiuji’s side.  Mochiuji won, but, 10 years later, Takaaki was deprived of the position of the Sagami Province Guardian Samurai by Mochiuji.

    For a couple of more times, the Miura Clan betrayed others to survive, and survived from being betrayed, and finally had to face a new enemy during the Warring States Period; Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519).  He came from Kyoto to Suruga Province in 1469, which lay east to Sagami Province, to make a warring-state-period hero, and actually carried out his plan.  In 1493, he first started unifying Izu Province, which lay between Suruga and Sagami Provinces, and then raided Sagami Province.  In 1512, he reached Miura County, the easternmost part of the Sagami Province.

     In 1512, Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519) started his full-scale attack against the Miura Clan.  He first made a surprise attack on Okazaki Castle, which was located near the central eastern part of Sagami Province.  Miura Yoshiatsu (1451?-1516), who had been adopted by Tokitaka (1416-1494), who was the grandson of Takaaki (?-?), was forced to retreat to Sumiyoshi Castle, which was just at the root of Miura Peninsula.  Fortress by fortress, Yoshiatsu ran up withdrawals, only to hold the castle at the tip of the Peninsula; at Arai castle.

     Nevertheless, Yoshiatsu held the castle for over 3 years with the help of Miura Sea Forces.  They turned away Shinkuro’s landing forces many times, supplied military provisions and arms, and kept the contact with the Satomi Clan in Awa Province.

     In 1516, Shinkuro succeeded in cutting the castle up from the sea forces.  Yoshiatsu hopelessly announced to his men, “Whoever want to escape, just escape.  Whoever want to die, die in battle and let your names go down in history.”  With the words, he and his men opened the castle gate, and charged into the enemy.  After a short attack, some of them came back to the castle and committed harakiri suicides in their own time.  Yoshiatsu composed a death poem, “The defeating and the defeated are all earthenware.  Once broken, they are all back in dirt.”

     The wife of Miura Yoshiatsu was the daughter of Yokosuka Tsurahide.  The Yokosuka Family belonged to the Miura Clan, but Tsurahide broke with Yoshiatsu and  went over to Ise Shinkuro.  Tsurahide survived, and led the leftover of the Miura Sea Forces, which were then called the Misaki 10 Families.  And the wife of Yoshiatsu survived too, maybe as the daughter of Yoshitsura.  Renjo-in Temple has its own tanka poem as a member of Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Past villages

Past fields

Will Avalokitesvara lead me to the far afterlife?

     Where did the wife go after her death?

Address: 13-14 Haramachi, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0223

Phone: 046-881-3572

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Kento-ji Temple

      Kento-ji Temple was built in 1616 by Mukai Masatsuna (1556-1624) in the site of the Peach Villa of Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate.  The temple name, Kento, literally means to See Peach.  Yoritomo also built 2 other villas: the Camellia Villa and the Cherry Villa, according to the flowers he loved to enjoy.

     The main deity fo Kento-ji Temple, the Arya Avalokitesvara statue, used to belong to Nokyo-ji Temple, but the site was developed in 1932.  Nokyo-ji Temple was abolished and the statue was moved to Kento-ji Temple.

     Kento-ji Temple has the graves of the Mukai Shogen Family.  Who was or were Mukai Shogen?

     Mukai Shogen was or were the sea force magistrate(s) of Tokugawa Shogunate.  However, let’s start by talking about the pirates in Ise Province or the Ise Bay.

     Taira Sadamori (?-989) was fighting around the northern part of the Kanto Plain against Taira Masakado (?-940), who corresponded in the East to Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941) in the West, the first pirate king in Japan.  After Masakado’s defeat and death, Sadamori was promoted to make a provincial officer in Tanba and Mutsu Provinces.  He seems never to have worked in Ise Province.

     Somehow or other, his son, Korehisa (?-?), was fighting in 998 against Taira Munenori (?-1011), whose grandfather was a younger brother of Sadamori’s father, over “kami-no-kori” (literally gods’ counties).  There used to be 6 gods’ counties in Ise Province, and 3 of them were located in the northern part, where both Korehisa and Munemori were based.  The counties' taxes were spent to support Ise Shrine.  The fight lasted for 2 generations, and finally Muneyori’s son, Munetsune (?-?), was arrested at Yokokawa in Mt. Hiei in 1021 officially by the police and judicial chief but virtually by Korehira’s son, Masamori (?-?).

     During the fight, probably to make his position better, Munetsune donated Masuda Manor in Kuwana County, Ise Province, in 1013 to Fujiwara Yorimichi (992-1074), who was the eldest son of Michinaga (966-1027), the most powerful man in Japan at the time.  Even after his arrest, he donated a navy blue lapis lazuli salvia jar to Todai-ji Temple.  The jar, which is still kept in Shoso-in, is presumed to have been made at Fergana in Turkistan and might have been brought by sea to Masuda Manor, where a base of the sea people who were active around Ise Bay was located.

     Even in the 12th century, we can find a document about a lawsuit between Kume Tametoki, a low-ranking official, and Kuwana Kanbe, a low-ranking shrine priest, over port tolls in the manor.  Later during the Warring States Period in Japan, the northern part of Ise Province produced the Mukai Family, a pirate samurai family, who made the sea force magistrate of Tokugawa Shogunate.

     In the 15th century, the family came to work and fight for the Kitabatake Clan, the ruler in Ise Province.  It is privately recorded that, in 1505, Mukai Tadatsuna (1488-1553) fought against Hojo Soun (1432-1519) for the Kitabatake Clan.  He died at an ocean village, Tashigara, Watarai County, Ise Province.  His son, Masashige (1519-1579), moved to Suruga Province to be a vassal of the Imagawa Clan, the ruler of the province, in the late 1550’s while other family members stayed in the southern part of Ise Province.

     In 1550’s, Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) was busy building his navy to support his expedition to Kyoto.  In 1558, he also recruited Itami Yasunao (1522-1596) as a sea-force samurai, who was born in Itami, Settsu Province, as a son of the lord of Itami Castle, Motosuke (?-1529).  Motosuke was killed in defending his castle, involved in the internal fightings within the Miyoshi Clan.  Yasunao had traveled around the provinces, seeking employment as a samurai, under the protection of Mano Tokiaki (?-?), a vassal of his late father and the maternal grandfather of himself.

     Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) was killed on his expedition to Kyoto, and his son, Ujizane (1538-1614) succeeded him.  Ujizane, however, was defeated by Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) and was driven out of Suruga Province in 1568.  In 1572, Mukai Masashige (1519-1579) was re-employed by the Takeda Clan.

     Almost at the same time, in 1571, Ohama Kagetaka (1540-1597), who had been driven out of Shima Province by Kuki Yoshitaka (1542-1600), was employed by the Takeda Clan, too.  It was under the command of Kagetaka that Masashige operated as one of Takeda Sea Forces.

     Masashige’s brilliant naval operation was recorded in 1577.  Kajiwara Kagemune (?-?), who was commanding Izu Sea Forces under the Hojo Clan, attacked Kambara Castle and other castles in the eastern part of Suruga Province.  Kambara Castle had been seized by the Hojo Clan from the Imagawa Clan in 1568, but, in the same year, had been captured by the Takeda Clan, but had been re-captured by the Hojo Clan in the same year.  In 1569, the castle had fallen to the Takeda Clan again.  Kokokuji Castle was located about 30-kilometer east from Kambara Castle, much nearer to Hojo’s domain.  Masashige defended the castle almost at the expense of his family.

     Mukai Masashige (1519-1579) was killed by Hoshino Kakuemon (?-?) when the Takeda Clan was attacked by the Tokugawa Clan from the west at Mochibune Castle on September the 19th, 1579.  His elder son, Masakatsu (1537?-1579), was also killed in the battle.  His younger son, Masatsuna (1556-1624), escaped from the death as he was staying in Fukuro Castle, about 15 kilometers east.  Masatsuna’s succession was admitted by Takeda Katasuyori (1546-1582) on October the 16th in the same year.

     In 1580, Masatsuna fought against the Hojo Clan’s sea forces, which were led by Kajiwara Kagemune (?-?), Numazu.  As the navy situation got worse for Takeda’s sea forces, they were ordered to give up their boats and come up ashore.  However, Masatsuna urged, “You use the word ‘up.’  But naval fightings are different from those on land, and, once my boat is captured by the enemy, my poor reputation as a pirate will bring eternal disgrace to my family.”  With the words, he kept fighting until the situation got better.

     On March the 11th, 1582,  Takeda Katasuyori (1546-1582) was, however, forced into a corner to commit suicide at the foot of Mt. Temmoku, attacked by the allied forces of the Oda and Tokugawa Clans and betrayed by Kiso Yoshimasa (1540-1595), Katsuyori's brother-in-law, Anayama Nobuyuki (1541-1582), a relative of Katsuyuki’s, Oyamada Nobushige (1539-1582), and others.

     Now that Mukai Masatsuna (1556-1624) lost his lord, he became masterless samurai.  It was Honda Shigetsuna (1529-1596) who persuaded Masatsuna to be re-employed (re-re-employed, as Mukai Family) by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), whose army killed Masatsuna’s father and elder brother.  Ieyasu was busy building his own sea forces to face up to those of the Hojo Clan.

     In 1583, Mukai Masatsuna (1556-1624) successfully attacked Suzuki Danjuro (?-?), a vassal of the Hojo Clan’s, and won his head, although Masatusna himself was wounded by an arrow.  This exploit brought him his first certificate of military merit from Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).

     In 1584, when the Battle of Komaki and Nagakune was fought between Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), linking in with the battle, Masatsuna fought against Hideyoshi’s navy, Kuki Sea Forces.  Amazingly, he won a fight in Ohama Bay, Shima Province, and this victory brought him a nationwide reputation as a pirate.

     A document dated February the 14th, 1590, wrote, “Tokugawa Ieyasu took a ship, Kuni-ichi-maru (literally, the Province First; a kind of Navy Force One), which Mukai Masatsuna was taking care of, from Shimizu Port to Kambara Port, and stayed in Nakakubo.”  It means Masatsuna had been appointed as a magistrate of the lordly ship of the Tokugawa Clan by that time.

     In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) was transferred from Mikawa, Totomi, Suruga, Kai and Shinano Provinces in Tokai and Tozan Regions to Musashi, Sagami, Awa, Kazusa, Shimousa, Hitachi, Kozuke and Shimotsuke Provinces in Kanto Region by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598).  Whether it was a promotion or a demotion, Ieyasu had to accept the radical deal and took the risk of moving to unfamiliar region.  So did his vassals.

     Mukai Masatsuna (1556-1624) moved to Misaki, Miura County, Sagami Province, which lay at the eastern side of the mouth of Edo Bay.

     In 1597, Masatsuna’s son, Tadakatsu (1582-1641) started serving Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632), Ieyasu’s son and the second shogun.  Tadakatsu built his own residence at Horie, Katsushika County, Shimousa Province (near today’s Tokyo Disney Land).

     In 1665, Mukai Masaoki (?-?), one of Tadakatsu’s sons, was temporarily working in Sunpu Castle in shifts.  He visited the vestige of Mochibune Castle, recalled his great-grandfather, Masashige (1519-1579), and built a memorial stone monument on September the 19th, the anniversary of Tokugawa’s killing of Masashige.

Address: 19-2 Shiraishicho, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0244

Phone: 046-882-5632

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Ongan-ji Temple

     Ongan-ji Temple was founded in 1862.  Its main deity is Ekadasamukha, who has 11 faces.  The temple also has 7 Avalokitesvara statues.  It is unknown how and why the temple has accumulated that many Avalokitesvara statues.

Address: 10, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0243 

Phone: 046-881-2427

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #0 Kosho-ji Temple

     Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized in 1192, at the beginning of the Kamakura Shogunate.

     One night, Arya Avalokitesvara appeared in the dream of a villager.  He followed the message and dug out the Arya Avalokitesvara statue.  Villagers built a hermitage, and put an earthenware pot instead of mani on the top of the roof.  The statue came to be called Kame-kuri Kannon (namely, Pot Hermitage Avalokitesvara).

     The statue is also said to have been carved by Gyoki (668-749).  How could they know who had carved the statue when they dug it out?

     Kosho-ji Temple itself was founded in 1430 by Priest Santetsu.

Address: 2473 Hassemachi, Miura, Kanagawa 238-0112

Phone: 046-888-1921

Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

     Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized in 1192, in the Horse Zodiac Year, at the beginning of the Kamakura Shogunate.  In the year, famine hit the Miura Peninsula.  Suzuki Shigeie visited 33 Avalokitesvara precincts in the Miura Peninsula.  Since then, their Avalokitesvara statues have been exhibited to the public every 12 years, in the Horse Zodiac Year.

     The next Horse Zodiac Year is 2026.

Virtual Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

      I have virtually walked up another 33 Kannon pilgrimage, Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  As its name suggests, some of their member temples have been abolished and a few have been merged.  And most of the others have been repeatedly moved and removed due to the expansion of the Edo Castle,  the city plannings of Edo and Tokyo, and, tragically, the great fires and the Great Kanto Earthquake.

     Which 33 Kannon pilgrimage next?

Trees in the town.

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #33 Ryusen-ji Temple

     Legend has it that Ryusen-ji Temple was founded by Ennin in 808.  It must have been established by 860.  In the year, Emperor Seiwa presented the framed piece of calligraphy with the phrase "Taiei" on it.  Since then the temple has also regarded as Taiei-san.

     The name of the surrounding district of "Meguro" derives its name from Ryusenji's black-eyed statue of Meguro Fudo (Black-eyed Acala).  Priest Tenkai (1536-1643), a religious advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), placed five protective Acala statues at strategic points on the outskirts of Edo in the early 17th century to religiously protect the new capital of the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Each statue had eyes of a different color.  For another example, Mejiro Ward was named for the white-eyed Acala.

Address: 3 Chome-20-26 Shimomeguro, Meguro City, Tokyo 153-0064

Phone: 03-3712-7549

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Bansho-in Koun-ji Temple

      Bansho-in Temple was founded by Imagawa Chotoku (?-1625) in 1574.

Chotoku was the third son of Yoshimoto (1519-1560), who was killed by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) on his way of the military advance to Kyoto.

     Bansho-in Temple was first located near the Hanzo Gate of the Edo Castle.  Later, it was moved to Tamachi, to Tsukudohachiman-cho, and to a couple of others.  It was finally removed to the present place in 1914, but was burned down in the fire in 1917.

     Koun-ji Temple was founded by Nagai Naomasa (1587-1668).

     When Naomasa was 11 years old, his father, Naokatsu (1563-1626), was working and fighting for Tokugawa Nobuyasu (1559-1579).  Then, Nobuyasu's father Ieyasu (1543-1616) was forced by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) to have Nobuyasu commit harakiri suicide.  Naokatsu and his family became masterless and jobless.  2 years before the death of Nobunaga, the family was employed by Ieyasu. 

     Even when Naomasa’s father became masterless and jobless, his grandfather, Osada Shigemoto (1504-1593), kept working and fighting for Ieyasu in Ohama, Mikawa Province.  Ohama Port used to be a strategically important point to command the Mikawa Bay.  In 1582, Nobunaga was killed by Akechi Mitsuhide(1528-1582), and Ieyasu had to escape back to Mikawa Province.  It was Shigemoto who offered a ship to pick him up.

Ohama is mentioned in the Wamyo Ruijusho (namely Japanese Names for Things Classified and Annotated),  which was a Japanese dictionary compiled in 938.

     At first, Koun-ji Temple was located just out of the Sakurada Gate of the Edo Castle.  As the castle was expanded, the temple was moved to Mita, and then was removed to the present place in 1922, when Japan withdrew its troops from the Siberian intervention.

     Bansho-in and Koun-ji Temple were merged in 1948, when Aisin Gioro Xianyu (1907-1948) executed by shooting as a traitor by the Nationalist government of the Republic of China.  I don’t know which temple used to be the original member of Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 4 Chome-14-1 Kamitakada, Nakano City, Tokyo 164-0002

Phone: 03-3387-6321

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Nyorai-ji Temple

     The Suzuki Family in Takawa invited the statue of Ekadasamukha, who has 11 faces, and the Hamano Family in Shinjuku founded Obai-in Temple with  its beautiful plum garden in 1600's.

     The Suzuki Family had worshiped the Acalanatha statue for generations, while the Hamano Family deified a stone ball.  The both family have washed coins, praying to the deities.  The customs have guaranteed the wealth to each family.  They teamed up and put the 2 deities in Obai-in Temple so that wider people can enjoy the blessings.

Address: 1 Chome-27-21 Takanawa, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0074

Phone: 03-3441-8701

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #30 Nyorai-ji Temple

      There used to be Yogyoku-in Temple in Ueno, and Nyorai-ji Temple in Takawa.  The two merged in 1926, and became Yogyoku-in Nyorai-ji Temple.

     Sanmyaku-in Temple was founded in the Heian Period.  When the Edo Castle was built, it was moved to Ueno.  It was renamed Sanmyo-in in 1626, and became the family temple of the Tsushima Domain.  After the second lord of the domain, So Yoshinari (1604-1657), died, the wife, Fuku, got her Buddhist name, Yogyokuin.  After her death, the temple was renamed again Yogyoku-in in 1663.  The temple was removed to Sakamoto in 1698.  When a railroad was built, it was removed again to Oi in 1922. 

     Nyorai-ji Temple was founded by Mokujiki Tansho (?-1641) in Takawa.  The title Mokujiki was given to those monks who ate only fruites and nuts.  Moku means a wood and jiki means to eat.  Tansho carved the Five Tathagatas for the temple.  The Five Tathagatas are the images of the 5 wisdoms Buddha has: #1 the wisdom of the essence of the dharma-realm meditation mudra, #2 the wisdom of perfect practice, #3 the wisdom of observation, #4 the wisdom of equanimity, and #5 the wisdom of reflection.  The temple moved to the present place in 1908.

     The question is which temple used to be the original member temple of Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 5 Chome-22-25 Nishioi, Shinagawa City, Tokyo 140-0015

Phone: 03-3771-4816

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Injo-in Temple

      Injo-in Temple used to be in Takawa.  It is unknown when it was founded.  It is also unknown when it was abolished.

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Doo-ji Temple Issei-ken

      Doo-ji Temple has the statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of other 6 metamorphoses, and the statue of Sahasrabhuja, who has 1,000 arms.  I’m not sure which is #27 or which is #28.

     Neither is shown to the public and both are concealed in a black sacred box, in front of which you can find 33 copies of the 33 statues of Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, the very original Kannon pilgrimage.

Address: 2 Chome-16-13 Takanawa, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0074

Phone: 03-3446-7676

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Doo-ji Temple

      Priest Munen built a hermitage in 1600, when the Battle of Sekigahara broke out between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa Clans, in which the latter overpowered the former. Accordingly, the Toyotomi Clan went down to one of the great lords from the ruler of Japan.  Munen means regret or mortification, which caused the priest to retreat into the priesthood.  What did he regret or was mortified with?

The hermitage was turned into a real temple in 1660’s, when the family register was accomplished by forcing every family to belong to a Buddhist temple, which of course increased the number of temples.

Address: 2 Chome-16-13 Takanawa, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0074

Phone: 03-3446-7676

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Saikai-ji Temple

      There used to be Takeshiba-dera Temple.  In 1621, Makino Tadanari (1581-1655) established Saikai-ji Temple at the site.  The temple functioned as the family temple for the samurais working in Edo for the Nagaoka and Matsuyama Domains, or the Makino and Matsudaira Clans until 1874.

     The site of Takeshiba-dera Temple is the the holy land for the fans of Sarashina Nikki or the Sarashina Diary, which was written by Sugawara Takasue’s Daughter (1008-1059).  The diary says:

     Now it is the Province of Musashi. There is no charm in this place. The sand of the beaches is not white, but like mud. People say that purple grass grows in the fields of Musashi, but it is only a waste of various kinds of reeds, which grow so high that we cannot see the bows of our horsemen who are forcing their way through the tall grass. Going through [Page 7]  these reeds I saw a ruined temple called Takeshíba-dera. There were also the foundation-stones of a house with corridor.

     "What place is it?" I asked; and they answered:

     "Once upon a time there lived a reckless adventurer at Takeshiba. 1 He was offered to the King's palace [by the Governor] as a guard to keep the watch-fire. He was once sweeping the garden in front of a Princess's room and singing:

     Ah, me! Ah, me! My weary doom to labour here in the Palace! 

     Seven good wine-jars have I–and three in my province.

     There where they stand I have hung straight-stemmed gourds of the finest–

     They turn to the West when the East wind blows,

     They turn to the East when the West wind blows,

     They turn to the North when the South wind blows,

     They turn to the South when the North wind blows. 

     And there I sit watching them turning and turning forever–

     Oh, my gourds! Oh, my wine-jars!

     "He was singing thus alone, but just then a Princess, the King's favourite daughter, was sitting alone behind the misu.  She came forward, and, leaning against the doorpost, listened to the man singing. She was very interested to think how gourds were above the wine-jars and how they were turning and wanted to see them. She became very zealous for the gourds, and pushing up the blind called the guard, saying, 'Man, come here!' The man heard it very respectfully, and with great reverence drew near the balustrade. 'Let me hear once more what you have been saying.' And he sang again about his wine-jars. 'I must go and see them, I have my own reason for saying so,' said the Princess.

     "He felt great awe, but he made up his mind, and went down towards the Eastern Province. He feared that men would pursue them, and that night, placing the Princess on the Seta Bridge, 1 broke a part of it away, and bounding over with the Princess on his back arrived at his native place after seven days' and seven nights' journey.

     "The King and Queen were greatly surprised when they found the Princess was lost, and began to search for her. Some one said that a King's guard from the Province of Musashi, carrying something of exquisite fragrance 2 on his back, had been seen fleeing towards the East. So they sought for that guard, and he was not to be found. They said, 'Doubtless this man went back home.' The Royal Government sent messengers to pursue them, but when they got to the Seta Bridge they found it broken, and they could not go farther. In the Third month, however, the messengers arrived at Musashi Province and sought for the man. The Princess gave audience to the messengers and said:

     "I, for some reason, yearned for this man's home and bade him carry me here; so he has carried me. If this man were punished and killed, what should I do? This is a very good place to live in. It must have been settled before I was born that I should leave my trace [i.e. descendants] in this Province–go back and tell the King so.' So the messenger could not refuse her, and went back to tell the King about it.

     "The King said: 'It is hopeless. Though I punish the man I cannot bring back the Princess; nor is it meet to bring them back to the Royal City. As long as that man of Takeshiba lives I cannot give Musashi Province to him, but I will entrust it to the Princess.'

     "In this way it happened that a palace was built there in the same style as the Royal Palace and the Princess was placed there. When she died they made it into a temple called Takeshíba-dera.  The descendants of the Princess received the family name of Musashi. After that the guards of the watch-fire were women.” 

Address: 4 Chome-16-23 Mita, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0073

Phone: 03-3451-1082

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Gyoran-ji Temple

 

     Priest Shoyo built a hermitage in En'o-ji Temple, Nakatsu, Bungo Province, in 1617 with the Holding-Fish-Cage Avalokitesvar statue.  Previously in 1615, the Toyotomi Clan had been destroyed by the Tokugawa Clan.  The last head of the Toyotomi Clan was Hideyori (1593-1615).  Hideyori’s son, Kunimatsu, was officially beheaded on May 23, 1615, with the husband of his wet nurse, Tanaka Rokuzaemon.  Some believed that the decapitated boy was actually Rokuzaemon’s son, and Kunimatsu escaped to Bungo Province.  Hideyori’s daughter became a nun in Kamakura, with her Buddhist name Tenshu-ni.  Priest Guen (?-1688), in his last moments, insisted that he was the second son of Hideyori.  Guen studied in Zojo-ji Temple and died in Fushimi, Yamashiro. 

     In 1630, Shoyo moved to Mita, Edo, with the statue, and built another hermitage there.  In 1652, when Tokugawa Ietsuna (1641-1680) was appointed as the 4th shogun, Shoyo made the hermitage a real temple.  As the Holding-Fish-Cage Avalokitesvar image was rather modern at the time, the temple became quite famous or even popular.

     Tosa Hidenobu (?-?) published Butsuzo-zui (Illustrated Compendium of Buddhist Images) in 1783.  In the compendium, he listed 33 popular subjects of Buddhism Avalokitesvara drawings and paintings: #1 Holding-Willow-Spray Avalokitesvar, #2 Naga Avalokitesvar, #3 Holding-Buddhism-Scripture Avalokitesvar, #4 Halo Avalokitesvar, #5 Sitting-on-Cloud Avalokitesvar, #6 Pandara Vasini Avalokitesvar, #7 Sitting-on-Lotus-Leaf Avalokitesvar, #8 Looking-at-Cascade Avalokitesvar, #9 Listening-to-Stream Avalokitesvar, #10 Holding-Fish-Cage Avalokitesvar, #11 Brahman (Virtuous-Lord) Avalokitesvar, #12 Looking-at-Reflected-Moon Avalokitesvar, #13 Sitting-on-Leaf Avalokitesvar, #14 Blue-Head Avalokitesvar, #15 Great-Commander Avalokitesvar, #16 Life-Prolonging Avalokitesvar, #17 Relief-from-Ruination Avalokitesvar, #18 In-Cave-with-Venom Avalokitesvar, #19 Wave-Reduction Avalokitesvar, #20 Anavatapta Avalokitesvar, #21 One-Knee-Drawn-Up Avalokitesvar, #22 Leaf-Robe Avalokitesvar, #23 Holding-Lapis-Lazuli-Censer Avalokitesvar, #24 Tara Avalokitesvar, #25 Sit-in-in-Clam Avalokitesvar, #26 Twenty-Four-Hour Avalokitesvar, #27 Universal-Benevolence Avalokitesvar, #28 Celestial Beauty Avalokitesvar, #29 Brahmani Avalokitesvar, who put palms together, #30 Controlling-Thunderbolt Avalokitesvar, #31 Peaceful-Vajrapani Avalokitesvar, #32 Holding-Lotus-Flower Avalokitesvar, and #33 Sprinkling-Purified-Water Avalokitesvar.  Some subjects came directly from Lotus Supra Chapter XXV, some were based on folklore in China, and others were created in Japan.

     In Tang China, there lived a beautiful woman who sold fish for living.  She looked for a man who could recite Vajracchedika-prajnaparamita Sutra and Lotus Sutra, especially  Chapter 25 "The Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Perciever of the World's Sounds”.  She successfully got married, but died before long.  After her death, she was believed to be a reincarnation of Avalokitesvar, who appeared in this world to propagate Lotus Sutra.  Many young men might have tried hard to recite the sutras to get married with her.

Address: 4 Chome-8-34 Mita, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0073

Phone: 03-3451-5677

Trees in the town.

Trees in the town.

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Ryusho-in Kannon-do Temple

      Uesugi Sadakatsu (1604-1645) was the 2nd lord of the Yonezawa Domain in the Edo Period.  His eldest daughter, Tokuhime, got married to Maeda Toshiharu (1618-1660), the 1st lord of the Daishoji Domain.  She became a nun after his death, and was given a Bhuddhsit name, Choson-in.  She founded Kozen-ji Temple in 1674.  Ryusho-in Kannon-do Temple was also founded by her.  Mysteriously, the presence of the temple had been already recorded in 1624.  In 1623, her grandfather, Kagekatsu (1556-1623), one of the heroes in the Warring States Period, had died.

     In 1739, it was renamed Ryugen-ji, with Ryusho-in Kannon-do still in the precincts.  The conversion was supported by Okudaira Masashige (1694-1746), the 1st lord of the Nakatsu Domain.

     The Avalokitesvara statue in Ryusho-in Kannon-do Temple has been famous for answering prayers for a safe childbirth.

Address: 5 Chome-9-23 Mita, Minato City, Tokyo 108-0073

Phone: 03-3451-1853

Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Shonen-ji Temple

     On May 8, 1615, the Osaka Castle fell and the Toyotomi Clan was finally destroyed by the Tokugawa Clan.  In the year, Shonen-ji Temple might have been founded by Priest Ryoko.  Or it was in 1652 that it might have been established.

     In 1651, the Keian Uprising  broke out.  On April 20, Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651), the third shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, had died and Ietsuna (1641-1680) had been inaugurated as the 4th shogun on August 18.  Yui Shosetsu (1605-1651) and Marubashi Chuya (?-1651) planned a coup d'état attempt to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate.

     Though the attempt failed, it was historically significant as an indication of a wider problem of disgruntled ronin, masterless and thus jobless samurais, throughout the country at the time.  The Keian Uprising was followed by the Joo Uprising in 1652, involving several hundred ronin.

     Samurais got masterless and jobless when their master or lord was abolished.  The Toyotomi Clan was the largest to have been abolished, and the Tokugawa Shogunate continued to abolish other rivalry clans one by one, which caused more and more ronin.

     After those uprisings, the Tokugawa Shogunate changed their policies against the latent rivalry clans.

     In the 17th century, on the other hand, the Tokugawa Shogunate established the danka system, and every citizen in Japan was supposed to belong to a Buddhist temple.  Accordingly, the number of temples increased.

     Even if you became a masterless samurai unluckily, if you were intelligent enough, you could make a monk or a priest.

     Even today, even if you lost your job, you could change jobs.  Only if you had mastered computer engineering or something. couldn't you?

3 Chome-9-12, Minamiazabu, Minato Ward, Tokyo 106-0047

03-3444-6565