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.

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