Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Matsunoo-ji Temple

 

     The Kyotoku War lasted for 28 years from 1454 till 1482.  During the war, Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438-1497), the Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, relinquished Kamakura and moved to Koga in 1457.  In 1458, the Muromachi Shogunate sent out another deputy shogun, Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491), from Kyoto for Kamakura, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura and stayed in Horikoshi, Izu Province.  From then on, there were Koga Deputy Shogun and Horikoshi Deputy Shogun in the Kanto Region.  On October 14, 1459, the 2 camps had a big battle in Ota Manor, Musashi Province. That was the start of the Warring States Period in the region.

     The Warring States Period was also the world where people once deemed low-ranked take the upper hand of the high-ranked people.  The Kanamari County had been governed by the Kanamari Family.  But, presumably sometime during the Kyotoku War, Kanamari Kagesada was cornered into a suicide by his vassal, Yamamoto Sadakane.  But soon Sadakane was killed by the Maru and Anzai Families.  2 Years after Kagesada’s death, the county people built a hall to chant prayers for him and his family on Iwasaki Terrace, and had the Arya Avalokitesvara statue carved.  The hall was named Manpuku-ji in 1448, and was later renamed Matsunoo-ji.

     Matsunoo-ji Temple fell down along with the other 2 temples, Raigo-in and Anraku-in, in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.  The Buddhist images which survived the earthquake were moved to Jisho-in Temple, which still has the Cave of the Ancestors, the cave grave for the ancestors of the Kanamari Family.

Address: 4612 Kanamari, Tateyama, Chiba, 294-0023

Phone: 0470-28-0644