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

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