Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Ishido-ji Temple

      Ashoka collected seven out of the eight relics of Gautama Buddha, and had their portions kept in 84,000 boxes made of gold, silver, cat's eye, and crystal. He ordered the construction of 84,000 stupas throughout the earth, in towns that had a population of 100,000 or more.

Somehow or others, Priests Keimei and Tosho brought one of the 84,000 stupas here in 708, and built a hermitage.  In 726, Gyoki (668-749) visited the hermitage, carved the statue of Ekadasamukha, who has 11 faces, for it, built a hall, and made it a temple.  In 851, Ennin (794-864) visited the temple, and built other temple buildings.

     In 1487, all the temple buildings were burned down due to the fire caused by burglars.  Buildings were rebuilt in 1513, supported by the Maru Family, who were ruling the area,  and the Satomi Clan, who were ruling Awa Province.

     Who were the Maru Family? They developed the Maru Manor at the southeast corner of the Boso Peninsula.

     Since the end of the 8th century till the end of the 12th century, the governance by the central government loosened and local powerful families stretched themselves financially, politically, and, above all, militarily, to become samurais.

     The southernmost tip of Awa Province, or the Boso Peninsula at large, is Cape Nojima.  If you sailed westward from the cape, you would sail into the Edo Bay.  If you sailed eastward, you would sail past the Maru Manor, past a saw-toothed coastline, past a 60-kilometer-long sandy beach, past Cape Inubo, and reached Katori and Kashima Shrines, which had been built as advanced bases in the Ancient Times by the then Royal Family to invade the Kanto Plain and the Tohoku District.  The Maru Manor was located at a good position to control the sea lane.  And those traders sailed past the area need the help of the locals too.  There ran and even today runs the Black Current.

     The widely-known written records of the Black Current can date back only to the 18th century.

     During the Edo Period, with Pax Tokugawa established, the economy grew slowly but almost steadily.  The cultural level of the ordinary people was getting higher.  Even commoners could enjoy traveling.  The enthusiasm coupled with the higher literacy rate of commonalty brought the publication of guidebooks and travel essays flourishing.  We can find a couple of comments on the Black Current there.

     Furukawa Shoken (1726-1807) was a geographer in the latter half of the Edo Period.  He compiled topographies based on his own observation, and also integrated information based on hearsay into memorandums.  “The Memorandum of Hachijo” was a latter case, and was about the Izu Islands including Hachijo Island.  The memorandum was published in 1794, and he mentioned the Black Current in it.

     “The Black Current looks as if an ink stone were rubbed on the surface of the sea.  As hundreds of swirls are mysteriously flowing past, whoever sees the current feels just dazzled.”

     Tachibana Nankei (1753-1805) was a doctor of Chinese medicine in Kyoto, and made rounds of visits to various parts of Japan intermittently from 1782 to 1788.  He published travel essays from 1795 to 1798, which would be collectively called “Journey to the East and to the West” later.  In one of the essays, he recorded a scratch of hearsay information on the Black Current.

     “They say that about 5.5 hundred kilometers off the Izu Peninsula, there are desert islands in the south.  The sea around the islands is called the Black Current.  The current is tens of kilometers wide, and runs like a large river, raging and rolling.

     “Furthermore, if you sail out southeast off Awa and Kazusa Provinces too far, you are washed away east and shall never come back, as the current turns eastward away from our islands.”

     Without the help by the local sea people, those traders who sailed past Awa Province eastward might have got lost wide in the Pacific Ocean, only to wait for their death without water and food.

     The Maru Manor was first recorded to have been “given” to Minamoto Yoriyoshi (988-1075) by the central government for his achievement in the Former Nine Years’ War (1051-1062).  That meant for the Maru Family that the manor was authorized by the central government for tax exemption and immunity.

     When the direct descendant of Yoriyoshi, Yoritomo (1147-1199), was defeated in the Battle of Ishibashiyama, he flew to Awa Province and visited the manor, praying to the god of Ise Shrine for his victory.  After he defeated the Taira Clan, he presented the manor to the shrine.  As a holy manor, the Maru Family kept enjoying tax exemption and immunity.

     Good thing didn’t last for the Maru Family.  During the Warring States Period (1467-1615), other powerful families, or then samurais, such as the Sanada and Masaki Families, broke into the area.  Today, only Maru Yoshihiro (1989- ), a famous slugger, is lingering the fame of the family name.

Address: 302 Ishido, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2503

Phone: 0470-46-2218