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

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