Virtual Miura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Muryo-ji Temple

     Muryo-ji Temple has a temple gate with a thatched roof.  The main deity of the main hall is Amitabha.  On its right, the Arya Avalokitesvara statue is enshrined in a divine box.  The statue used to be enshrined in a Kannon-do hall on the other side of the valley.  On September 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake also hit the Miura Peninsula, and collapsed the hall.

     Muryo-ji Temple was founded by Wada Yoshimori (1147-1213) in 1189.  On the Incident of Kajiwara Kagetoki (?-1200) in 1199-1200, Yoshimori conspired with the Hojo Clan.  On the Incident of Hiki Yoshikazu (?-1203) in 1203, He conspired with the clan again.  On the Incident of Hatakeyama Shigetada (1164-1205) in 1205, he conspired with the clan again.  In 1213, however, he was provoked to fight against the clan only to be defeated.

In 1338, the temple invited Zhuxian Fanxian (1292-1348) from China and came to belong to the Linji School of Chan Buddhism.

     By the end of the 16th century, the temple was converted to the Pure And School by Priest Judo.

     The first main deity was carved by Unkei (?-1224) and was burned down in a fire in 1669.  It was re-carved in 1685 with the financial support from Mamiya Mikinojo.

     Mikinojo the first had been Mamiya Nobutaka (1553-1584), who commanded his sea forces for Hojo Ujimasa (1538-1590).  Later, he headed his sea forces for Takeda Katsuyori (1546-1582).  When the Oda and Tokugawa Clans attacked the Takeda Clan in 1582, he switched to the Tokugawa Clan, and supported their food supply.  He fought for the Tokugawa Clan together with the sea forces of Ohama Kagetaka (1540-1597) and Toda Tadatsugu (1531-1597).  When he was fighting against the Kuki sea Forces near Kanie Castle, he was killed in a fight.

     Who were Ohama Kagetaka and Toda Tadatsugu?

     The Ohama Family was a pirate family, based in Ohama, Toshi County, Shima Province.  Kagetaka owned an “atakebune,” a big warship at the time, and held naval hegemony in Ise Bay.  However, his provincial lord, the Kitabatake Clan, lost to Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), and Kagetaka himself was chased out of the bay.

     Kagetaka and his atakebune were employed by Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) in 1571.  Among Takeda’s sea forces, only Kagetaka owned an atakebune.  After the Takeda Clan collapsed in 1582, he was re-employed by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).  When Ieyasu moved to Kanto in 1590, Kagetaka followed him, and was stationed in Misaki, Miura County, Sagami Province.  His residence was about today’s Honzui-ji Temple.  He couldn’t live long enough to enter the Battle of Sekigahara, the most important decisive battle at the end of Warring States Period. 

     The Toda Family used to command the Mikawa Bay.  However, Toda Yasumitsu (?-1547), Tadatsugu’s elder brother, was killed in the fight against Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560), when Tadatsugu narrowly escaped to Okazaki, where the Tokugawa Clan used to be based.  When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to Edo, Tadatsugu got based in Shimoda, Izu Province, and came to control the Izu Sea Forces.

     It is unknown what generation descendant Mikinojo in 1685 was.

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