Virtual Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Senko-ji Temple

     Senko-ji Temple (namely 1,000 lights temple) was founded at the turn of the 15th century, and was named so for its Sahasrabhuja statue, which is supposed to have 1,000 arms.

     According to tradition, the Sahasrabhuja statue saved Lady Terute-hime when she got caught up in a trouble with Oguri Mitsushige (?-1423).  Then who was Oguri Mitsushige?

     In the Muromachi Period, whose central government was located at Muromachi in Kyoto, the Kanto area was half-independent and was governed by the regional government in Kamakura, which was ruled by the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  Both the central shoguns and the Kanto deputy shoguns were from the Ashikaga Clan.  The both rather rivaled each other and some Kanto deputy shoguns even tried to become central shoguns.

     To check the rivaling attempts, the central shoguns appointed some powerful Kanto samurais to be directly feudatory to them.

     Those directly feudal to the central shoguns were called Kyoto Servants.  Although they resided within the jurisdiction of the Kanto Deputy Shogun, they neither had to serve the Kamakura office nor were supposed to be under the command of the Kanto Deputy Shogun.   

     The Kyoto Servants in Kanto included the Takeda Family in Kai Province, the Yamairi, Oguri, Makabe and Daijo Families in Hitachi Province, and the Utsunomiya, Nasu, and Onodera Families in Shimotsuke Province.  They often took anti-Kanto-Deputy-Shogun movements, and the central shogunate criticized them ostensibly but was actually pulling strings.  That, of course, irritated the Kanto Deputy Shoguns.

     In 1423, the 5th Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), finally destroyed Oguri Mitsushige and his family as a warning to other Kyoto Servants.  That might have aroused sympathy to Mitsushige.  The history spun off a tradition:

Mitsushige wasn’t killed in the battle.  He escaped to Mikawa Province.  On his way, he tried to get sheltered by Yokoyama Taizen, who pretended to shelter him but was trying to betray him to Ujitsuna.  Taizen’s daughter, Terutehime, fell in love to Mitsushige, and tried to elope with him.  The father got furious, and threw the daughter into a river.  And she was saved by the Sahasrabhuja statue.

     Actually, it was Mitsushige’s son, Sukeshige (1413-1481), who survived. He tried to revive his family but finally lost to Mochuuji’s son, Shigeuji (1434-1497), in 1455.

     Shigesuke’s drama was after his defeat.  He escaped to Kyoto, entered Sokoku-ji Temple, changed his name to a Buddhist name, Sotan, learned drawing from Priest Shubun there, and became a famous painter.  Even Kano Motonobu (1476-1559), the founder of the Kano School of Painting, was said to have learned from him.  Could he?  Presumably, his indirect influence was too much exaggerated.

     By the way, the side of Mochiuji and Shigeuji had their own tragedy.   Mochiuji, the deputy shogun in Kamakura, was forced to commit suicide by Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394-1441), the then shogun.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered Mochiuji’s 2 elder sons, Shun'o-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.  Shun'o-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?” (Shun'o-maru)

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

The  youngest brother, Shigeuji, survived.  He later became a deputy shogun in Kamakura, succeeding his late father, Mochiuji.  It was in one of his revengeful battles that Shigesuke was defeated to give up reviving his family.

     Senko-ji Temple is also known for a cat grave.  During the Kamakura Period, some Chinese ships even reached Kanesawa.  those ships kept cats in them to guard their cargos.  Some cats settled down in Kanesawa.  They had a short tail, and arched their back when stroked.  They were loved as exotics, and a stone memorial was built for them. 

Address: 1 Chome-37-1 Higashiasahina, Kanesawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0033

Phone: 045-781-4652