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.

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