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.

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