Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Ryochu-ji Temple

 

     Ryochu-ji Temple was founded by Priest Ryochu (1199-1287) in 1278, and was revived by Priest San’yo in 1742.

     Ryochu stayed in Kamakura between 1259 and 1276.  One day, he was walking from Komyo-ji Temple in Kamakura to Komyo-ji Temple in Unoki, Musashi Province, which still keeps the Buddhist stole of his.  When he was walking near Tsurumi River, he thought he heard his named called repeatedly from the woods along the river.  He found it mysterious, and asked the villagers to search for the caller.  They found a Bhaisajyaguru statue.  The priest built a hermitage in the woods, enshrined the statue in it, and put Dharmapala to guard the statue.

     Since then, the woods came to be called Dharmapala Woods, and became a holy place for the local people.  Eventually, the priest made it a temple.

     Dharmapala (the Defenders of the Dharma, or the Protectors of the Law)  are the guards of the 8 directions, East, West, North, South, heaven and earth, and the sun and the moon.  They are enshrined to defend and protect an important spot such as where an attestation ceremony for an acharya is performed.

     Dharmapala are composed of Indra (East), Agni (Southeast), Yama (South), Raksasa (Southwest), Varuna (West), Vayu (Northwest), Vaisravana (North), Isana (Northeast), Brahma (Heaven), Prthivi (Earth), Surya (the Sun), and Candra (the Moon).

     In 1742, a super-typhoon made landfall at Osaka and hit Edo.  It started raining on August 26, and the storm hit the provinces between Osaka and Edo, causing many rivers to flood.  Along Chikuma River alone, more than 200 tons of water was estimated to have flooded.  On 30, the typhoon hit Edo, and not only downtowns but even samurai mansions on the heights were flooded.  On September 1, Tone, Ara, and Tama Rivers flooded.  On 6, another typhoon hit the Kanto Region, and it kept flooding till 8.

     Presumably, the former temple buildings and precincts were lost in the flood.  The 41st priest of the temple, Priest San’yo moved the temple to the present place in Yako Village.  It was in 1769 that another temple bell, the present temple bell, was casted.  According to the inscription, the former one had been casted in 1704.

     The temple also keeps a hanging scroll with 6 characters drawn by Priest Yuten (1637-1718), a well-known psychic, and his Buddhist stole for some reason or other.

     Of course, the temple has an Avalokitesvara statue: the statue of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.  Long time ago, there used to be rosebushes growing in crowds.  One day, the Cintamanicakra statue was found beneath the bush.  The area is very mysterious, isn’t it? 

Address: 4 Chome-21-36 Yako, Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0001

Phone: 045-581-5414

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Muryo-in Temple

 

     The precincts of Muryo-in Temple has itabi dated 1318, when Emperor Go-Daigo came to the throne.  He later destroyed the Kamakura Shogunate, which had ruled Japan for about 1 and a half  century.

     The temple was founded in the holy site by 1536.  Those days, the Uesugi Clan in Musashi Province and the Later Hojo Clan in Sagami Province were fighting seesaw battles over Tama River.  Muryo-in Temple was founded in one of those battle fields.

     Priest Ekai (?-1562) is said to have revived the temple.  That means the temple could have been burned down in the flames of war.  He was still living in the Warring States Period.

     The Sahasrabhuja statue was said to have been carved by Gyoki (668-749), modeling on that in Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Yamashiro Province.

     One day, Granpa Misono was cutting mulberry twigs to feed cocoons, and dropped his hatchet in Ogura Pond.  He came down into the pond, and fell into a deep place.  When he came into his senses, he found himself in the Dragon King’s Palace.  He was entertained by the Princess for 7 days, and enjoyed himself very much.  He got worried about his home, and bade farewell.  The Princess gave him a small box.  He came back home, and found his family holding a sixth memorial service for him.  The service turned into a feast.  He opened the box, found 5-centimeter-tall Avalokitesvara statue and a scale of a dragon, and died.  The gramma deeply grieved his second death, and gave his souvenir to Muryo-in Temple.  The small statue was enshrined in a 50-centimeter-tall Sahasrabhuja statue, and the scale was enshrined in an nightlight.  Ever since then, the top of a nearby pine tree came to be lit, and the tree came to be called Dragon Light Pine Tree.

     When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to Edo Castle in 1590, he put his energies to the issue of his own gold coins, the flood control projects, and the irrigation.  He appointed Koizumi Jidayu (1539-1624) to build an irrigation ditch through the Inage and Kawasaki Domains, drawing water from Tama River.  Jidayu started the construction in 1597.  In 1611, the construction was finished, and the ditch was called Nikaryo (namely Two Domains) Ditch.  Ogura Pond became part of the ditch, and the area became fertile rice fields.  There still lives the Misono Family near the temple.  Is the palace still in the pond or the ditch?  If not, where has it gone under Pax Tokugawa?

Address: 2 Chome-7 Ogura, Saiwai Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 212-0054

Phone: 044-588-0660

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Jufuku-ji Temple

     Jufuku-ji Temple was founded by Priest Man’yo (?-1571).

     In 1560’s, Hojo Ujimasa (1538-1590) was ruling not only Sagami Province but the southern half of Kanto Region.  He brought the largest territory for the Later Hojo Clan.  However, he was not enjoying an airtight defense.

     In 1560, famine and an epidemic spread across the Kanto Region.  Taking advantage of it, was the 1561 Siege of Odawara, Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578) invaded the region and attacked Odawara Castle.  That was the first of several sieges which would befall Odawara Castle, the home castle of the Later Hojo Clan, in the Warring States Period.

     Kenshin breached the defenses, and burned the castle town. The castle itself however remained unconquered; Kenshin withdrew after two months due to the lack of adequate supplies, and the reappearance of Takeda Shingen (1521-1573), Kenshin's long-time rival, who was threatening his territories.

     The second Siege of Odawara took place in 1569. This time, it was Takeda Shingen who attacked Odawara Castle, as the Later Hojo Clan intervened into Shingen's invasion of Suruga Province.

     Shingen came into Musashi Province from his home province of Kai, attacking Takiyama and Hachigata Castles, where Ujiyasu's sons repulsed them. After failing to take Hachigata and Takiyama Castles, Shingen nevertheless moved to Odawara Castle.  The siege lasted only three days, after which the Takeda forces burned the town to the ground and left.

     Odawara Castle itself did not fall and was still held by the Later Hojo Clan.

     The temple and its stone statue of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, witnessed those seesaw battles.  What wishes did Priest Man’yo and the villagers have?

Address: 1 Chome-12-20 Kitakase, Saiwai Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 212-0057

Phone: 044-599-2943

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Iwaya-do Temple

 

     Iwaya-do Temple was built by Nakata Kaganokami. One day, Yagami River flooded, causing a landslip in Hiyoshi.  There appeared a Avalokitesvara statue, which was about 60 centimeters tall.  In the spot, Kaganokami built a small building to enshrine the statue.

     Who was Nakata Kaganokami?

     First of all, a samurai in the Warring States period usually had 4 names: a childhood name, an adulthood name (from a historical reason, usually categorized as a posthumous name), a post name, and, after his death, a posthumous Buddhist name.  It means that while he was alive, people around him usually used one of the first 3 names.  Even when he was grown up, his old friends and relatives sometimes called him with his childhood name.

     Kaganokami, literally meant the guardian samurai of Kaga Province, was a post name.  It is unknown whether it was given by his lord or was chosen by himself and for himself.  A warlord gave his vassals such a post name probably with his unifying the whole of Japan in his mind.  As a consequence, some independent samurai picked up such a name in rivalry.

     As the Later Hojo Clan increased their territoy from Sagami Province into Musashi Province, Nakata Kaganokami changed his lord from Ota Yasutsugu (1531-1581) to Hojo Ujimasa (1538-1590).

     Then, what was Nakata Kaganokami?

     According to the paper "A Trend of Lord Nakata at Yagami in the Age of Wars" (Dr. Masahiro Morimoto, 2000, Departmental Bulletin Paper of Keio University), Nakata Kaganokami was an efficient revenue officer.

     Sometime after 1570, Hojo Ujimitsu (?-1590) became the lord of Kozukue Castle.  In 1584, he started the land survey of the Kozukue Domain.  In 1585, Nakata Kaganokami surveyed Onda Village, dispatching his vassals to the village, and brilliantly doubled the tax on the area.  He must have been good at calculation.

     In 1587, Kaganokami sent his vassal, Shibasaki Tajima, to Kami-Maruko Village for the land survey.  There, he also doubled the tax revenue.  He was an efficient manager.

     He kept doing the job till 1590, when the Later Hojo Clan was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598).

     Nakata Kaganokimi had a fort-like mansion in Yagami Village, and founded temples and shrines in the area.  The site of the mansion had an ancient tumulus.  The admittance into the tumulus was a taboo even in modern times.  Nakata Kaganokami was in the center of politico-economic and spiritual lives of the people in Yagami Village.

     Good luck came by cuffing.  In 1590, Odawara Castle fell, Nakata Kaganokami fled back to Yagami Village, losing his job.  He was said to die of indignation or to kill himself in violent anger, and was buried in Hofuku-ji Temple in 1590.

     His son, Tozaemon, moved to Kawashima Village, built Shokan-ji Temple, buried part of his father’s ashes there, inviting Priest Shugyu (?-1688).  Tozaemon also moved the fort-like mansion to Kawashima Village, and dug a trench around it.  He became the village head there.

     Why in Kawashima, not in Yagami?  An efficient revenue officer might have had avengers.

Address: 5 Chome-18 Hiyoshi, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0061

Phone: 045-561-7038

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     At the turn of the 13th century, Inage Someone-or-other enshrined an Avalokitesvara statue in Ida Village.  So says tradition.  An Inage who lived at the time might have been Inage Shigenari (?-1205) or his family member.

     Shigenari loved his wife so deeply that he became a Buddhist priest after her death and built a bridge over the River Banyu to pray for the comfort of her in the other world in 1198.  So, the statue might have been another memorial.

     In 1595, a flood hit the village and washed away the statue.   Years past, and one day Monk Keiko happened to find the statue in Yagami River.  He enshrined it in Yagami Village, built a hermitage near the statue, and stayed there.

Address: 6-8 Yagami, Saiwai Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 212-0056

Phone: 044-599-2279

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #11 Dairaku-in Temple

 

     Dairaku-in Temple used to be the shrine temple of Hie Shrine.

     Prince Tsunesada (825-884) had 2 sons.  According to tradition, his second son, Monk Keiko, was going to share God San'o in Mt. Hiei.  He first visited Akasaka Village, Fuwa County, Mino Province, and then Atsuta Shrine in Owari Province.  He further traveled east to Kawasaki Village, Inage Manor, Musashi Province.  Finally, he chose Maruko to settle down in on June 14, 809.  Sometime after that, Dairaku-in Temple was founded as the shrine temple.  The temple was revived in 1679.

     Kira Yoriyasu (?-1562), was working and fighting for the Kanto Deputy Shogunate at first.  In 1524, Uesugi Tomooki (1488-1537) lost Edo Castle to Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541), and Yoriyasu dumped the shogunate for the Later Hojo Clan.  About 2 decades later, Yoriyasu adopted a boy between Horikoshi Rokuro and Sakihime (?-1586), a daughter of Hojo Ujitsuna (1486-1541), although he had his own son.  The boy became Kira Ujitomo (1542-1603), and made the head of the family in 1561.   Ujitomo further got married with the daughter of Hojo Gen’an (1493-1589).  The Kira Family was actually taken over by the Later Hojo Clan.

     One day, Ujitomo had Chokan carve the sitting statue of Gotama Siddhattha, and presented it to Dairaku-in Temple to pray for fulfilling wishes of the family and the vassals.

     In 1590, the Later Hojo clan was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyosi (1536-1598), and Ujitomo started working and fighting for Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).  Although he was dispatched by the Later Hojo Clan into the Kira Family to control them, he controlled the family and its vassals well enough to change sides.

     One day, Ujitomo had Chokan carve the sitting statue of Gotama Siddhattha, and presented it to Dairaku-in Temple to pray for fulfilling wishes of the family and the vassals.

     Ah?

     The question is whether that one day was before 1590 or after.

     Whichever it was, the statue answered for Ujitomo’s wishes.  His descendants kept working for the Tokugawa Shogunate.  9 generations after Ujitomo, Kira Yoshikata died as the last head of samurai family in 1879, 12 years after the Meiji Restoration, with the family ruined.

     Did the supernatural powers of the statue expire?  Or didn’t Ujitomo  have good enough visions to make suitable and appropriate wishes for his descendants to live in the modernized society?

Address: 1522 Kamimarukohachimancho, Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-0001

Phone: 044-411-7327

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Tofuku-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when and by whom Tofuku-ji Temple was founded.  It used to have a small building for the Avalokitesvara statue, but the building had been abolished by the time the New Chorography on Musashi Province was compiled by Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) at the beginning of the 19th century.

Address: 45 Ichinotsubo, Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-0016

Phone: 044-433-3313

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #9 Daijo-in Temple

     Daijo-in Temple was founded in 1625 by a daughter of Yamauchi Tadayoshi (1592-1665), inviting Priest Donkyo from #18 Hosen-ji Temple.  The daughter’s posthumous Buddhist name was Genmu (literally Illusion Dream).

     Tadayoshi was the second lord of the Tosa Domain under the Tokugawa Shogunate and had 4 daughters.  The eldest, whose mother wasn’t recorded, became the second wife of Kurushima Michikiyo (1629-1700), the second lord of the Mori Domain in Buzen Province.  The second was recorded as Princess Sayohime, who was given birth by Jushoin (?-1661), who was Michikiyo's concubine. Sayohime got married to Inui Nobukatsu, the highest dignitary of the Tosa Domain. The third, named Princess Umehime, was married to Omiya Toshimitsu (1603-1684), an aristocrat in Kyoto.  Her mother wasn’t recorded, and whether she shared the same mother with the eldest daughter is unknown.  The fourth, Kiyohime, who was given birth by Tadayoshi’s lawful wife, Kumahime, got married to Matsushita Nagatsuna (1610-1658), who was the lord of the Nihonmatsu Domain (600 thousand goku).  But Nagatsuna was demoted to the Miharu domain (30 thousand goku) in 1628.  In 1640, Kiyohime gave birth to Toyotsuna (1640-1657).  Nagatsuna had another boy and a girl whose mother(s) is/are unrecorded.  But Nagatsuna was further dismissed and confined under Tadayoshi at Kuma village in Tosa Province in 1644 for the reason that he had deranged.  It is impossible to relate the incident with the foundation of the temple in 1625.   Then who was Genmu?  In 1623, Kumahime, the lawful wife of Tadayoshi, moved from Tosa to Edo.  She had given birth to Tadatoyo (1609-1669), to Tadanao (1611-1667), and Kiyohime (1613-?).  2 years after Kumahime’s arrival at Edo, Daijo-in Temple was founded, and Genmu stayed there until her death.  In 1632, Kumahime died at the age of 38.  If the posthumous Buddhist name, Genmu, embodied her personality, she might have been always seeing illusions and dreams.  Did Kumahime have the 2nd girl that was always seeing illusions and dreams?

     What if Genmu was Kiyohime?  Tadatoyo and Kiyohime caught smallpox on their way from Tosa to Edo.  Did she have too bad sequela to get married?  And became Genmu?  If so, who made the wife of Nagatsuna?  A dummy?

     Nagatsuna wasn’t the only one that was dismissed around Kiyohime.  After Nagatsuna left Nihonmatsu, Kato Akitoshi (1599-1641) moved in in 1628.  He died of a disease in 1641, but the Tokugawa Shogunate doubted the cause of death and dismissed Akitoshi although he had already died.  His brother, Akinari (1592-1661) was ruling the Aizu Domain.  He came into a conflict with the chief retainer, Hori Mondo.  Mondo ran away from the domain with 300 of his family members and followers, shooting guns against the castle.  He escaped into Mt. Koya, but was arrested and executed with his younger brothers.  His wife escaped into Tokei-ji Temple, #11 of Kamakura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  Nun Tensho, the then chief priestess of the temple, refused her extradition resolutely.  Anyway, due to the incident, Akinari was dismissed in 1643.  Something or someone twisted their fates.  I wish someone would write a story over the twists.

Address: 2 Imaiminamichō, Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-0064

Phone: 044-722-2768

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #8 Anraku-ji Temple

     Naito Takuminosuke moved to Shimokodanaka Village in 1514.  He took part in the village administration and founded Anraku-ji Temple, inviting Priest Kojun (?-1543) from Kai province with some other monks.  In 1525, smallpox reached epidemic proportions nationwide, Kuranosuke and Kojun buried the dead near the hermitage.   The bereaved became supporting member families.  Gradually, Anraku-ji Temple was formed.

     It is interesting that Takuminosuke also invited a god from Togakushi Shrine in Shinano Province, not from Suwa Shrine in Kai Province, and founded Oto Shrine in the village.  So, the question is where the Naito Family came from.  Anyway, they had a connection or two with those living in mountainous provinces.

     Anraku-ji Temple has the bhavacakra, which literally means “ heel of life” and which  is a symbolic representation of samsara, or cyclic existence.  The picture is found on the outside walls of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Indo-Tibetan region, to help ordinary people understand Buddhist teachings.  It is usually used in Indian Buddhism & Tibetan Buddhism.

Address: 2 Chome-36-1 Shimokodanaka, Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-0041

Phone: 044-766-9098

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Koryu-an Temple

 

     Koryu-an Temple was founded by Naito Kuranosuke.

     A couple of centuries before, Kira Osauji (?-1290) was born as the illegitimate son of Ashikaga Yoshiuji (1189-1255), one of the important and powerful samurais that had the direct master-servant relationship with the shogun.  Although Osauji was the eldest son, his younger brother, Yasuuji (1216-1270), whose mother was the lawful wife of Yoshiuji, succeeded to the head of the Ashikaga Clan.  Osauji started the Kira Family.

     Generations later, Kira Haruie was given Setagaya County in 1366 by Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367), the first Deputy Shogun in Kamakura.  Kira Shigetaka built Setagaya Castle at the turn of the 15th century.

     Shigetaka’s son, Yoriyasu (?-1562), was working and fighting for the Kanto Deputy Shogunate at first.  In 1524, Uesugi Tomooki (1488-1537) lost Edo Castle to Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541), and Yoriyasu dumped the shogunate for the Later Hojo Clan.

     In those days, a person called Naito somebody-or-other started working and fighting for the Kira Family in Setagaya Castle.  His younger brother, Naito Takuminosuke moved to Shimokodanaka Village in 1514.  Although he made a farmer, he took part in the village administration.  He not only founded #7 Koryu-an Temple but also #8 Anraku-ji Temple, inviting Priest Kojun (?-1543) from Kai province with some other monks.  Takuminosuke let Kojun build a hermitage and stay there.

     In Kai Province, after Takeda Nobumasa (1447-1505), his son, Nobutsuna (1471-1507), died young.  Civil strife and conflict were rampant.  In 1513, for example, Anayama Nobuto, the head of one fo the powerful families in the province, was assassinated by his son, Seigoro (?-1513), who was killed by his elder brother, Nobukaze (?-1531), who dumped the Takeda Clan in Kai Province for the Imagawa Clan in Suruga Province.

     Anyway, the hermitage became Koryu-an.  Were Kojun and others refugees?

Address: 4 Chome−14−6 Shimokodanaka, Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-0041

Phone: 044-766-4743

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #6 Yugen-ji Temple

     Yugen-ji Temple was founded by Nakagawa Shigeoki (1645-1724), who was later buried in the precincts.  His posthumous Buddhist name was Yugenji, so the temple must have been founded around 1724.  What did that mean?

     Shigeoki was a martial artist.  He was born in Shinano Province, and was adopted by Nakagawa Shigetatsu (?-1664), who was his mother’s brother, and who was a teacher of Japanese archery.  Shigetatsu belonged to Heki-ryu School of Japanese archery.  Compared to another school, Ogasawara-ryu, Heki-ryu put emphasis on practical use; to hit and penetrate targets well enough.  They had infantry in their mind when Ogasawara-ryu rather put higher priority on cavalry.  However, Shigeoki learned from Sakakibara Tadasato (?-1704), who was the master of Ogasarara-ryu too.

     Shigeoki’s grandfather, Nakagawa Shigeyoshi (?-1653), who temporarily worked as a shogunate bodyguard, was a master of test cutting and seems to have taught or at least shown Shigeoki part of it.

     Shigeoki continued to learn test cutting from Yamano Kaemon (?-1667), who was an apprentice of Shigeyoshi and who was the master of Tani-ryu School of test cutting.

     Tani Moriyoshi (1529-1579) had started tameshigiri (literally means test cut) which tested the quality of Japanese swords.  His son, Moritomo (1563-1628) had refined it into arts.

     Test cutting was the arts to measure the performance of swords not the aesthetic value of them. To test the performance, they cut a bundle of straw, a bamboo, an armor, or even a dead or alive body.

     After learning various practical skills of Japanese martial arts, Shigeoki finally established Nakagawa-ryu Battojutsu (battojutsu literally means the art of drawing a sword), which has been handed down even today. Establishing a new school meant leaving the school he had belonged.

     Shigeoki had been adopted, and yet started a new school for himself.  Then, he had to start a new temple by himself.  An entrepreneur had to be an entrepreneur even in the next world.

Address: 1-1 Shinjonakacho, Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-0043

Phone: 044-777-3712

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #5 Zenryu-ji Temple

 

     There used to be Josen-ji Temple in Shimo-Kodanaka Village, founded in the Warring States Period.  Presumably, it was changed into Zenryu-ji Temple before or in the Tokugawa Period.

     The precincts has a building to keep Buddhist tablets of past priests and supporting members of the temple.  There sits a stone statue of Kobayashi Masatoshi (1635-1711), which was chiselld in 1708, 3 years before Masatoshi died.  Kobayashi Family owned part of the village.

Address: 5 Chome-3-15 Shimokodanaka, Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-0041

Phone: 044-766-7627

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #4 Sairyo-ji Temple

     It is not recorded when Sairyo-ji Temple was founded.  The precincts preserve 4 tombstones which were built before the builders' death.  The older two were built in October, 1440 by Dogen and Myoshin, both of which sound posthumous Buddhist names.  From the epitaphs of the newer two, only the era name, Bunmei, can be deciphered.  They were built sometime between 1469 and 1486.

     In March, 1440, Yuki War broke out.

     Ashikaga Harutora was born on June 13, 1394.  At the age of 9, he entered Seiren-in Temple, on June 21, 1403.  On March 4, 1408, he became a priest, and was named Gien.  Ashikaga Yoshikazu (1407-1425) and Yoshimochi (1386-1428) died of a disease one after another, and the shogunate became vacant.  Chief vassals assembled at Iwashimizu-Hachiman-gu Shrine and decided the next shogun by lot on January 17, 1428.  And Gien became the sixth shogun, Yoshinori (1394-1441), who assassinated his political opponents one after another.

     Yoshinori cornered Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the deputy shogun in Kamakura, into suicide.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered Mochiuji’s 2 sons, Shuno-maru and Yasuo-maru, in his castle, and rebelled against Yoshinori in March, 1440.  On July 29, the Yuki Castle was surrounded by the overwhelming strength of the shogunate army.  The outcome was self-evident from the very beginning.  Yet, the Yuki Family held the castle for nearly a year.  On April 16, 1441, the castle finally fell.  Ujitomo and his son were killed in the fights.  Shuno-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto.  But on their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, they were killed, with their death poems left:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shuno-maru)

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

     In 1440, Dogen and Ryosin might have had a presentiment, or a resolution, that they would die before long.  The Yuki Castle was located about 100 kilometers north-northeast from Sairyo-ji Temple.

     Then, what happened between 1469 and 1486?

     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 builders might have had premonition that they would be killed in a battle at any time.  Actually, anyone could be killed anywhere anytime in any battle in the Warring States Period.

     According to a tradition, Sairyo meant West Dormitory.  There might have been a hermitage used as a kind of a dormitory long before the temple was established.  In the dormitory, people might have temporarily averted their eyes from unavoidable death.

Address: 6 Chome-16-31 Hiyoshihoncho, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0062

Phone: 045-561-5609

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Konzo-ji Temple

 

     Konzo-ji Temple was founded by Enchin (814-891), who carved the Acalanatha statue and enshrined it in the temple as the main deity.

     Konzo-ji Temple also enshrines Dairokuten, Papjyas.

Address: 2 Chome-41-2 Hiyoshihoncho, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0062

Phone: 045-561-2037

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Soson-an Hermitage

 

     Soson-an Hermitage used to enshrined the Holding-Willow-Spray Avalokitesvar statue, which belongs not to the 6-type Avalokitesvar, to which traditional Avalokitesvar statues belong, but to quite different typology; the 33-type Avalokitesvar.

     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.  He put stronger emphasis on the number 33, and might have ramified a couple of subjects to increase the number to 33.  He also might have considered the 33 subjects to be artistically more meaningful manifestations of Avalokitesvara than those from Lotus Sutra, at least in Japan.

Address: 3 Chome-11-5 Shimodacho, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0064

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Shinpuku-ji Temple

     Shinpuku-ji Temple was founded by Priest Kangyu (?-1657), supported by Sugi Kutsuetsu (?-1612).  Its main deity is Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.  the statue was said to have been carved by Ennin (794-864).

     On the hill behind the the main building, there stands Itabi.  The inscription is almost gone, but it tells it was built in 1534.  In 1532, Takeda Nobutora (1494-1574), the father of Shingen (1521-1573), unified Kai Province.  In 1533, Saito Dosan (1494-1556) began to stand out.  In 1534, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) was born.  The Warring States Period in Japan was advancing to its climax.

     Shinpuku-ji Temple also enshrines Dairokuten, the 6th plain or layer in the heaven.  Of course, what the temple enshrines are who lives in the 6th plain or layer.  In Buddhism, a devaloka is a dwelling place of the Buddhist devas.  Papiyas, one of the devas, lives in Para-nirmita-vasa-vartin, which is believed to be in the 6th plain or layer of the heaven.

     Papiyas takes great pleasure in people's pleasure.  A charitable god?  No, he is scorned as the enemy of Buddhism.  Why?  In Buddhism, people’s pleasure comes from satisfying their desire or lust, or narcotic.  The more Papiyas strives to please people, the more they go astray.  So is Papiyas despised or sometimes feared in the Western part of Japan at least.

     In the Eastern part of Japan, typically in the Kanto Region, Papjyas or Dairokuten is very popular.  Why?  Do you ask me?  Ask those living around Tokyo.  For your information, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) called himself Papjyas, didn’t he?  Or was it Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) who called Nobunaga Papjyas?

     There stands an old itabi on the hill behind the main building of the temple.  It tells the itabi was built in 1534. The precincts must have been much older as a holy place than the temple.

Address: 3 Chome-11-5 Shimodacho, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0064

Phone: 045-561-4466

Trees in the town.

Trees in the town.

Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage

      In 718, Priest Tokudo, the founder of Hase-dera Temple, died.  At the entrance of the netherworld, he met the great king of the Buddhist Hades.  The king had a kind of triage crisis and complained that he had to sort too many people into the hell.  “Japan has 33 Avalokitesvara precincts.  People there can reduce their penalty points by going on a pilgrimage to the precincts.”  Thus he gave Tokudo a written pledge and 33 precious seals, and sent him back to the world.  Tokudo chose 33 precincts and advised people to visit them.  People, however, didn’t believe it (as a matter of course), and the pilgrimage didn’t become popular.  He stored the seals up in a stone case in Nakayama-dera Temple.  He died at the age of 80, and the pilgrimage got forgotten.  This time, what conversation did he have with the king?

     One day, Emperor Kazan (968-1008) was shutting himself up in Mt. Nachi, Kishu Province, after his abdication in 986.  The god of Kumano appeared in his dream, and advised him to revive the pilgrimage Priest Tokudo had organized.  The emperor found the 33 seals in Nakayama-dera Temple, asked Priest Shoku (910-1007) in Enkyo-ji Temple to cooperate.  The priest recommended Priest Butsugen in Eifuku-ji Temple instead.  With Butsugen’s guide, the retired emperor went on the pilgrimage to the 33 precincts, and even composed a tanka poem for each temple.  That was the start of go-eika, Japanese tanka poem chants for pilgrims.  The 33 precincts were called Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

     After Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127-1192) organized Rakuyo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, the first copy of Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, the second copy was planned by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate and the political rival against Emperor Go-Shirakawa, and was actually organized as Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage by Minamoto Sanetomo (1192-1219), the third shogun, who was unluckily assassinated by his nephew.

   About 2 decades after the organization of Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized on March the 18th, 1234.  Although some of the Kannon statues of the 34 temples were normally hidden from public view, all the Kannon statues were to be displayed to the public every 12 years since 1234.  The last simultaneous display was performed in 2014, and, accordingly, the next one will be carried out in 2026.

     The number 34 was manipulated to make it 100 together with Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage and Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

     Thereafter, any other Kannon pilgrimage was organized as the copy of either one of the three: Saigoku33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, or Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage.  Awa Province, Tokushima Prefecture today, in Shikoku Island, for example, has Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage as the copy of Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Awa Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage as the copy of Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and Awa Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage as the copy of Chichibu 34 Kannon pilgrimage.  In all, Awa Province copied whole the manipulation.  Every and any copied Kannon pilgrimage has the location name but one: Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, which was organized by 1810, and which overlaps the area of Kozukue 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, which was organized in 1732.  Can there be another 33 Kannon pilgrimage in the area to make it 100?

Trees in the town.

Trees in the town.

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #34 Konzo-in Temple

 

     Minamoto Yoritomo invited God Oyamatsumi of Mishima-taisha Shrine in Izu Province to Seto in 1180.  The place name Seto means a strait.  In the north of the strait there used to lie an inland sea.  The place had been regarded as a holy place since earlier times.  The local people believed the strait could wash away sins and uncleanness.

     In 1473, Itami Sakyonosuke re-invited the god from Seto to Kamariya and built Teko Shrine, which was located at the depth of the inland sea. 

According to an old document, Konzo-in Temple might have been founded by the time about 1 kilometer upstream from Teko Shrine.

     Who was the Itami Family?  Nothing else is known about Sakyonosuke, but Itami Nagachika (?-1563) worked and fought for the Later Hojo Clan.  After Nagachika’s death, Masatomi was still working for the Later Hojo Clan when it was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) in 1590.  His son was taken care of by his maternal uncle. They became Buddhist monks; Chugo and Chuson.  Chugo made the head priest of Senso-ji Temple, whose position Chuson succeeded.  Priest Chuun (1630-1686) succeeded his uncle Chuson in 1648.  It was Chuun who rebuilt Teko Shrine in 1679.

Address: 5 Chome−3−22 Kamariyahigashi, Kanesawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0042

Phone: 045-781-9330 

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #33 Jimyo-in Temple

     It is unknown when Jimyo-in Temple was founded.  It used to be located in Nagahama Beach, which was such a successful fishing port to be said to have a thousand buildings.  In 1311, a tsunami hit the beach to wash away all the buildings.  Some fishers took shelter at Tomioka with the Arya Avalokitesvara statue.

     The temple was revived by Priest Genryu (?-1545).  When Bu-shu Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized, Jimyo-in Temple was both #33 and #34.  Then, there should have been 2 Avalokitesvara statues in the temple at first.

     In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake destroyed all the temple buildings.

     By 1931, the #34 Avalokitesvara statue has been lost.

     Today?  #33 is also missing.

Address: 5 Chome-8-34 Tomiokahigashi, Kanesawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0051

Phone: 045-771-6977

Trees in the town.

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Keisan-ji Temple

 

     There used to be Horyu-ji Temple near Tomioka Beach, which suffered gradual erosion, and that caused the temple move to halfway up Tomioka Hill.  In 1624, Toshima Nobumitsu (1579-1628) renamed the temple Keisan-ji after his mother’s posthumous Buddhist name, Goson Keisan.  She had died on October 6, 1613.

     Nobumitsu arranged a match between Inoue Masatoshi (1606-1675), the son of Masanari (1577-1628), the elder statesman of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the daughter of Shimada Naotoki (1570-1628), the Osaka Governor.  However, Lady Kasuga (1579-1643), who was the wet nurse of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651), the third and then shogun, and who was also an influential politician, stepped in.  She introduced the daughter of Torii Naritsugu (1570-1631) to Masatoshi and Masanari.  Masanari couldn’t refuse the introduction, and the first match was broken off.  Nobumitsu completely lost face.

     On August 10, 1628, Nobumitsu came across Masanari in the corridor in the west wing of the Edo Castle.  He slashed at Masanari with his short sword, saying, “A samurai must not be a double-dealing liar.”  One of the guards, Aoki Yoshikiyo (?-1628), was surprised and tackled Nobumitsu from the back.  Nobumitsu thrust the short sword into his own abdomen and killed himself.  For Yoshikiyo’s misfortune, the short sword penetrated Nobumitsu and reached Yoshikiyo’s abdomen and left him fatally injured.  That was the first bloodshed in the Edo Castle

     Under the guilt-by-association system, all the other Toshima Families should have been punished.  Sakai Tadakatsu (1587-1662), another elder statesman of the Tokugawa Shogunate, however, praised Nobumitsu’s vengeance, and asked for a lenient sentence.  Only Nobumitsu’s eldest son, Yoshitsugu (?-1628), had to commit harakiri at the age of 13 for joint responsibility.  Shimada Naotoki (1570-1628) also committed harakiri.  Masatoshi and the daughter of Naritsugu?  They got married, and lived happily with many children ever after.  With some casualties, Lady Kasuga proved her great insight to find the best match.

     Nobumitsu seems to have had another son.  He became in employment with Tokugawa Yorinobu (1602-1671),  who started the Kishu-Tokugawa Family and who also lamented the death of Nobumitsu.

     When Yorinobu’s great grandson, Yoshimune (1684-1751), made the 8th shogun, Nobumitsu’s descendant also came to Edo to work for Yoshimune and the Tokugawa Shogunate.

     The temple witnessed the first bloodshed in the Edo Castle.  71 years 7 months and 4 days later, Asano Naganori (1667-1701) slashed at Kira Yoshihisa (1641-1703) in the main grand corridor of the castle; the beginning of the Ako Incident.  The incident led to another famous incident, the revenge of the forty-seven samurais.

Address: 4 Chome-1-8 Tomiokahigashi, Kanesawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0051

Phone: 045-772-3264

Trees in the town.

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Tafuku-in Temple

 

     Tafuku-in Temple used to be a sub-temple within the precincts of Tozen-ji Temple.  It was founded by Priest Monshin (1275-1342), who was from Awaji Province.  He was said to have learned from Lanxi Daolong  (1213-1278), but how could it be possible?  Monshin went to Song China to study, and came back to Japan in 1279.  Quite impossible.  Were there 2 Monshins?

     Monshin was also said to have learned from Priest Tokugo (1240-1307).  Quite possible.  Tokugo learned from Lanxi Daolong.  Absolutely possible.  Monshin’s indirect pupil-hood of Daolong could have been wrongly recorded.

     Anyway, Tafuku-in Temple was abolished, and the statue of Sahasrabhuja, who is to have 1,000 hands, was moved to Rinko-ji Temple.

Rinko-ji Temple

Address: 2 Chome-20-26 Mori, Isogo Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 235-0023

Phone: 045-751-0451

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #30 Tozen-ji Temple

     Tozen-ji Temple used to belong to Shingon Buddhism.  It was a kind of a school where monks studied the Mahavairocana Sutra and the Vajrasekhara Sutra, and learned how to draw mandala and how to write the siddham script of the Sanskrit language.  The temple was located in a scenic spot, and, in 1301, was requisitioned by Hojo Munenaga (?-1309), who concurrently held the positions of samurai governors of  Bizen, Aki, Buzen, and Noto Provinces and who was powerful in the Kamakura Shogunate.

     He transfered the temple to the Linji School of Chan Buddhism, a popular one among samurais, and left it to Priest Tokugo (1240-1306).  But it seems to have already been actually managed and transferred by Priest Sokan (1234-1318), who learned from Priest Lanxi Daolong (1213-1278), who had been born in Shu Province (present-day Sichuan Province), China. Due to the Mongol Conquest of the Song Dynasty in China in 1246, he sailed to Japan to preach Chan Buddhism, and founded Kencho-ji Temple in Kamakura in 1253.

     Priest Sokan first made the 14th head priest of Shofuku-ji Temple in Kyushu, moved to Tozen-ji Temple in 1281, was mentioned in the inscription on the temple bell in 1298, and made the 18th head priest in Kennin-ji Temple in Kyoto.  He returned to Shofuku-ji Temple, built Fuko-an Hermitage, and died there.

Address: 1 Chome-9-1 Sugita, Isogo Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 235-0033

Phone:  045-771-4697

Trees in the town.

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Senzo-in Temple

 

     Senzo-in Temple was founded by Priest Chikaku (?-1199) in November, 1192.

     There used to be 4 Shugendo practice halls in Kamakura: Senzo-in at Yamasaki, Gongen-do in Kamegaya, Aizen-bo and Zoken-do in Nikaido. 

     Minamoto Yoritomo asked Priest Chikaku of Senzo-in to visit Kumano to pray for the gods there to help Yoritomo govern the country and people.  The priest stayed in Kumano for 21 days, and got the Three Buddhist Images of Amitabha, which had Amitabha in the center, Avalokitesvara on the left, and Mahasthamaprapta on the right, one of the most popular styles of main deities in temples in Japan, and 3 other souvenirs: (1) a talisman of Gozu Tenno (literally "Ox-Headed Heavenly King"), who was a syncretic Japanese deity of disease and healing, (2) 2 guidepost stones, and (3) 2 Asian bayberries, a holy plant in the Kumano Sanzan shrine complex in Kii Province, which comprised Kumano Hayatama Taisha, Kumano Hongu Taisha, and Kumano Nachi Taisha.

     Strangely enough, Chikaku put those souvenirs on a boat made of a camphor tree, and floated them out of Kumano.  After 15 days, mysteriously enough, they arrived at the Nakahara Beach in Kuraki County, Musashi Province, which was located on the other side of the Miura Peninsula.

     Impressed with the holy consideration, Yoritomo ordered Chikaku to build a shrine near the beach.  Chikaku search for a good location which overlooked the sea in the east.  And he invited the 3 gods, Ketsumi, Hayatama, and Musubi, from Kumano, and started building a branch shrine of the Kumano Sanzan shrine complex on the top of a hill on May 6, completed it on November 15, and founded Kishu-zan Tokoku-ji Temple as the shrine temple.

     The strange and mysterious legend implies a possible sea route and even human transfer between Kumano and the Miura Peninsula.  Since ancient times, Kumano provided pirates to other places in Japan.

     Even during the Warring States Period in Japan, the sea forces under the direct control of the Mori Clan, the largest and strongest warlord along the Seto Inland Sea, were no match against Murakami Pirates, who were said to have developed under the strong influence of Kumano Pirates.  Kumano Pirates were said to have commanded the Seto Inland Sea before the written history of Japanese piracy.  They exported their personnels even to Eastern Provinces in the Warring States Period.

     The Japanese Archipelago has 34,600 kilometers of shoreline, which is shorter than America’s 56,700 kilometers but longer than Brazil’s 5,760 kilometers.  The islands are washed by the Black and Tsushima Currents from the south and by the Kuril Current from the north.

     The Black Current starts off Philippines, flows northward between the Formosa Island and the Ryukyu Islands, and, turning northeastward,  passes between the Ryukyu Islands and the Kyushu Island toward the south coasts of the Shikoku and Honshu Islands, transporting warm, tropical water.  The current brings not only tropical water but also fish, corals, seeds of tropical plants such as coconuts, blocks of dead aromatic trees, and even culturally, sometimes even militarily, advanced alien people.

     In 840, the third official history book,  Nihon Koki, was compiled, which covered the years 792-833.  Its volume 8 had an entry about a drifted alien:

     "In July, Autumn, 799, one man on a small boat drifted ashore in Mikawa Province.  He wore full-length cloth, a loincloth, but not trousers.  He covered his left shoulder with a piece of dark blue cloth, which looked like a Buddhist priest’s sash.  He was about 20 years old, was about 167 centimeters tall, and had 10-centimeter-long ears.  We couldn’t understand his language, nor could identify his nationality.  When Chinese people saw him, they said he was a Kunlun man.  Later, he mastered Japanese, and said he was from India.  He was always playing an one-string harp.  His singing voice was always melancholy and sorrowful.  When we checked his belongings, we found something like grass seeds.  He said they were cotton seeds.”

     Those days, Chinese called those from South-East Asia as Kunlun people.  The man might have been blown eastward somewhere in South China Sea, and washed on the Black Current as far as off Mikawa Provinces.

     Thus, the automatical arrival of Chikaku's sourvenirs was not totally impossible, but we should rather think someone carried them by sea.

     Senzo-in Temple used to be located in Kamakura.  After the Siege of Kamakura, which was fought between the Hojo Clan and Nitta Yoshisada (1301-1338), it moved to Tokoku-ji Temple.

     After the Meiji Restoration, the temple was abolished, and the building where the deity had been enshrined came to belong to Kumano Shrine.  The membership as #29 of Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage was transferred to Koshu-ji Temple, and its Cintamanicakra statue is regarded #29 member deity of the pilgrimage.  Where is the original member deity, the Arya Avalokitesvara statue, gone?

Kumano Shrine

Address: 4 Chome-5-17 Nakahara, Isogo Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 235-0036

Phone: 045-771-6534

Koshu-ji Temple

Address: 5 Chome-9-6 Mori, Isogo Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 235-0023

Phone: 045-751-7608

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Nyoirin-do Temple

     When Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) started compiling the topology of Musashi Province in 1810, Nyoirin-do Temple was still standing next to Toju-in Temple.  When Yokohama City started compiling its history in 1931, the Cintamanicakra staue of Nyoirin-do Temple was enshrined in Toju-in Temple.  Today?  It’s missing.

     After going on a religious tour through provinces, Monk Jungyoku dropped in at Sasage, and founded Toju-in Temple.  The sango and jigo of the temple used to be Sekigu-zan Ondaito-ji.  By the middle of the 16th century, the temple fell into ruin.

     Years passed, and Monk Shijun dropped in at Sasage during his religious tour through provinces, to find it devastated.  He felt very sad.  The devastation of the temple just seemed his own devastation.  He repeatedly appealed to the lord of the Sasage Castle, Mamiya Yasutoshi (1518-1590), who finally gave up about 0.3 are of field to the temple.

However, in 1577 or 1578, the then priest buried the contribution document for some reason or other.  Of course, Yasutoshi confiscated the field.

     In 1590, when the Later Hojo Clan was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), Yasutoshi was fighting for Hojo Ujikatsu (1559-1611) in the Yamanaka Castle.  He fought bitterly and even killed Hitotsuyanagi Naosue (1546-1590), who was a member of Kiboroishu (a kind of lifeguard military) of Hideyoshi and who was the lord of Karuminishi Castle in Mino Province.  But he was heavily outnumbered and defeated.  Finally, he dyed his hair black with ink and dashed into the enemy, saying, “It’s a shame to offer my white-haired head to the enemy.”

     The Sasage Castle was abolished, and the surrounding area became part of the domain of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616).  Hideyoshi ordered all the lords of all the domains to carry out the nationwide registration of fields and farmers after the war.  Mysteriously, Tsuji Kichiji turned in the copy of the buried document, and leniently Ieyasu approved it.  Someone might have maneuvered tactfully.

     In 1663, Mamiya Hikojiro asked the Tokugawa Shogunate to add 3 ares of fields to the temple.  Locally, the Mamiya Family was still influential.

     On October 4, 1671, Toju-in Temple was given new sango and jigo by Priested Prince Joho (?-1678) at Ninna-ji Temple in Kyoto; Daien-zan Jakujo-ji.  Priest Yuen put a piece of paper with the sango and jigo over the old sango and jigo; Sekigu-zan Ondaito-ji.  But the paper partially came off to show the old sango; Sekigu-zan.  Consequently, the temple came to be called Sekigo-zan Jakugo-ji Toju-in Temple.  Believe it, or not.

     Things were going smoothly, anyway, with the temple.  But, in 1694, it was caught by a spreading fire from a farmer’s house, and was burned to ashes.  It was in 1719 that all the buildings were reconstructed.  But again, in 1884, it was burned down again.  

Toju-in Temple

Address: 2 Chome-24-17 Sasage, Konan Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 234-0052

Phone: 045-845-1414

Trees in the town.

Trees in the town.

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Fukuju-in Temple

 

     Fukuju-in Temple was said to have been founded by Priest Kanden sometime in the 15th century.  In the 15th century in the Kanto Region, there broke out the Eikyo War in 1438-1439 and the Kyotoku War in 1455-1483, which started the Warring States Period in the region.

     The temple was revived by the 12th head priest, Priest Ryotei (?-1588).  What was happening in the Kanto Region in 1580’s?

     In 1583, Ahikaga Yoshiuji (1541-1583  ), the then Kanto Deputy Shogun at Koga, died.  Koga was located at the adjoining point of the Tone and the Hitachi river systems.  Hojo Ujimasa (1538-1590) seized the moment, took command of the two systems, and thus controlled the water transportation in the Kanto Region.  Any warlord in the region had to chose either to be subordinate to Ujimasa, or to resist to the bitter end.

     The foundation and the revival of Fukuju-in Temple seems to have something to do with the social unrest in the Kanto Region.

Address: 1 Chome-3-2 Konan, Konan Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 233-0003

Phone: 0120-829-101

Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Shokaku-ji Temple

 

     The Mamiya Family suffered many casualties in the Gongen-do Battle.  Shokaku-ji Temple was founded in 1428 by the village head, Takanashi Rin'emon, to pray for them.  The first priest, Kakugei, died in the year.

     Gongen-do Temple used to be located where Kogaya Elementary School (1-1 Kogaya, Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 221-0051) is located today.  It was often used as a fort as it was located along the border between Musashi and Sagami Provinces.  It is not clear against whom the Mamiya Family fought.

     In 1425, the 5th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshikazu (1407-1425), died.  In 1428, Ashikaga Yoshimochi (1386-1428), the 4th shogun who had retired in 1423, died.  As the shogunate became vacant, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the 4th deputy shogun in Kanto, seeked the post of the 6th shogun.  That caused countless battels and fights in the Kanto Region.  The Gongen-do Battle might have been one of them.

     Yet, it is unknown against whom the Mamiya Family was fighting at the time.  Those days, anybody could fight against anyone.

     Ashikaga Harutora was born on June 13, 1394.  At the age of 9, he entered Seiren-in Temple, on June 21, 1403.  On March 4, 1408, he became a priest, and was named Gien.  Ashikaga Yoshikazu (1407-1425) and Yoshimochi (1386-1428) died of a disease one after another, and the shogunate became vacant.  Chief vassals assembled at Iwashimizu-Hachiman-gu Shrine and decided the next shogun by lot on January 17, 1428.  And Gien became the sixth shogun, Yoshinori (1394-1441).

     It was Yoshinori that forced Mochiuji to commit suicide.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered Mochiuji’s 2 sons, Shuno-maru and Yasuo-maru, in his castle, and rebelled against Yoshinori in 1440. On April 16, 1441, his castle fell and he and his son were killed in the fights.  Shuno-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto.  But on their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, they were killed, with their death poems left:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shuno-maru)

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

     Yoshinori also killed his younger brother, Priest Gisho (1404-1441).  He also killed his powerful vassals, Isshiki Yoshitsura (1400-1440), Toki Mochiyori (?-1440), and others.  Finally he was assassinated by his vassal, Akamatsu Mitsusuke (1381-1441) on June 24, 2 months and 8 days after the execution of the 2 young brothers: Shuno-maru and Yasuo-maru.

     1420's was the start of the days when anybody could fight against anyone.  Japan was plunging into the Warring States Period.  The Mamiya Family survived the period.  They were based in Hitorizawa, Kuraki County, Musashi Province.  They worked and fought for the Later Hojo Clan first.  Mamiya Yasutoshi (1518-1590), for example, was appointed to a magistrate when Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541) rebuilt Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine in Kamakura in 1530’s.  When the Later Hojo Clan garrisoned part of the Izu Sea Forces in Miura Peninsula, Yasutoshi managed them.

     After the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan, the family worked and fought for the Tokugawa Clan.  After the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, they worked for the shogunate.

     One of the descendants included Kotonobu (1777-1841).  In 1810, the Academy of the shogunate started compiling provincial topographies.  Kotonobu participated in compiling those of Musashi and Sagami Provinces.

     The Takanashi Family, who were fighting and working for the Arai Family under the Mamiya Family, also survived, we can find some Takanashi Rin'emons in some records in the Tokugawa Peeriod.  The head of the family could have inheritaed the first name Rin’emon.

     It is unknown, however, what has become of the Arai Family since then.

Address: 2 Chome−11−1 Konan, Konan Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 233-0003

Phone: 045-842-0684