Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (revised)

    The anomalous cold weather started in 1229, resulting in a shortage of food. People started to die en masse in 1230.  About one third of the population of Japan were starved to death.  The relief efforts by the Kamakura Shogunate were ineffective.  The social order broke down, and bands of marauding robbers became common.  Instead of further relief efforts, the Shogunate tightened the reins of the society.  On August 27, 1232, they introduced the Goseibai Shikimoku or the Formulary of Adjudications.

    The famine deeply grieved priests and monks in Awa Province.  They composed tanka poems for their Avalokitesvara precincts and organized the 33 Kannon pilgrimage in the province in 1232, when the Goseibai Shikimoku was imposed nationally.

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Nago-ji Temple

    Empress Yamatonekotakamizukiyotarashi (680-748) succeeded Empress Ahe (661-721) in 715.  In 717, Gyoki (668-749) was visiting Awa Province, and happened to find a piece of foreign wood in the sea. He picked it up and carved the 1,000-armed Sahasrabhuja statue out of it.  By coincidence, Empress Yamatonekotakamizukiyotarashi was ill, and was cured when Gyoki carved the statue and made prayers to it.  The empress ordered that a temple should be built for the statue.

    The temple used to be located on the top of the hill, but it collapsed in the 1703 Great Genroku Earthquake on November 23.  It was rebuilt on the hillside in 1759 with Okamoto Hyoe leading the reconstruction.

    Pilgrims from Edo used to sail across the sea to Nago Port to begin their the pilgrimage.

Address: 1125 Nago, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0055

Phone: 0470-27-2444

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Niimi-do Temple

    Niimi-do Temple used to be located halfway up Aokine Hill.  In 1967, the temple was moved to the present place, the site of Shuman-in Temple, which had been collapsed during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.

    In the old site halfway up the hill, there still stands the stone statue of Ksitigarbha and a stone tablet inscribed with a haiku poem of Matsuo Basho (1644-1694):

In the spring

Plum trees along Kagami Bay

Stand unseen.

    It is unknown when the temple was founded, but a Japanese pagoda which originally contained a dharani sutra tells that it was built in 1768.

Address: 54 Kamegahara, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0052

Phone: 0470-27-2444    

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Daifuku-ji Temple

    India has many Buddhist caves.  They are rock-cut architecture, which contains Buddhist images.  China also has some Buddhist temple grottoes, which contain Buddhist images.  Japan imported Buddhism from India through China.  Ancient and Medieval Japanese people seemed to have tried to follow Indian and Chinese people, by sculpting cliffs into Buddhist images.  There might have been some geological reasons.

    Daifuku-ji Temple has the 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue, which was sculpted out of the cliff at the back of the temple in 717. Tradition has it that it was Gyoki (668-749) who sculpted the statue. Gyoki got the inspiration from someone who was working for a Shinto shrine, who wished for the safety and good catches of the local fishermen, and sculpted the statue.

    Later, Ennin (794-863) visited the precincts and built a temple building for the statue.

Address: 835 Funakata, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0056

Phone: 0470-27-2247

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #4 Shinsho-ji Temple

    Empress Asukabe (701-760) asked Gyoki (668-749) to carve 2 statues of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds a chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, to have an easy delivery of Prince Motoi (727-’28).  One was enshrined in Obitoke-dera Temple, Nara, and the other was floated in the Tatsuta River.  The latter was found off Tomiura, Awa Province by Aoki Masakatsu, who founded Shinsho-ji Temple and enshrined the statue.

    The temple is surrounded with cliffs which have old cave graves or the Cave of the Patriarchs.  As we have found many cave graves in and around Kamakura, so we can guess there used to be a bone-collecting-type of a burial ritual practiced across the gateway of the Tokyo Bay.  Hundreds of kilometers off the bay runs the Black Current, which might have brought about the burial ritual from Taiwan or Ryukyu.

    The Japanese Archipelago has about 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 the Philippines, flows northward between Formosa Island and the Ryukyu Islands, and, turning northeastward, passes between the Ryukyu Islands and Kyushu Island toward the southern 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 culturally, sometimes even militarily, advanced alien peoples as well.

    Furukawa Shoken (1726-1807) was a geographer in the latter half of the Edo Period.  He compiled topographies based on his own observations, and also integrated information based on hearsay into memorandums.  “The Memorandum of Hachijo” was a latter case, and was about the Izu Islands including Hachijo Island.  The memorandum was published in 1794 and mentioned the Black Current in.

    “The Black Current looks as if an ink stone were rubbed on the surface of the sea.  As hundreds of swirls are mysteriously flowing past, whoever sees the current feels just dazzled.”

    Tachibana Nankei (1753-1805) was a doctor of Chinese medicine in Kyoto, and made rounds of visits to various parts of Japan intermittently from 1782 to 1788.  He published travel essays from 1795 to 1798, which would be collectively called “Journey to the East and to the West” later. In one of the essays, he recorded a scratch of hearsay information on the Black Current.

    “They say that about 5.5 hundred kilometers off the Izu Peninsula, there are desert islands in the south.  The sea around the islands is called the Black Current.  The current is tens of kilometers wide, and runs like a large river, raging and rolling.

    “Furthermore, if you sail out southeast off Awa and Kazusa Provinces too far, you are washed away east and shall never come back, as the current turns eastward away from our islands.”

    Awa Province is the northernmost province that is washed by the Black Current.   The province is just across the gateway of the Edo Bay from Kamakura.

Address: 173 Aoki, Tomiuracho, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2416

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #5 Kozen-ji Temple

    Kozen-ji Temple was founded in 1345 by Muso Soseki (1275-1351), who was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and teacher, calligraphist, poet and garden designer.  He was the most famous monk of his time. The precincts have the stone stupa of Chikoin, the posthumous name of the wife of Satomi Yoshihiro (1530-1578).  The statue is dated 1576, but Chikoin is supposed to have died much earlier.

     When the Satomi Clan was building up its hegemony in Awa Province, the Kanto region at large was plunging into another epoch under the Muromachi Shogunate.  The Kanto Deputy Shogun used to be based at Kamakura.  The fourth Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), turned against the central shogunate in Kyoto in 1423.  He was defeated, and his son, Shigeuji (1434-1497), was stationed at Koga in Shimousa Province.  The central shogunate sent Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491) to Kanto, appointing him as a new deputy shogun in Kanto, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura, obstructed by some powerful Kanto samurai, and was stationed at Horigoe in Izu Province.  That is, the Kanto deputy shogunate was divided into 2.

    In 1517, when Ashikaga Takamoto (?-1535) was Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun, his younger brother, Yoshiaki (1493?-1538), turned against Takamoto, and was stationed at Oyumi in Shimousa Province.  That is, the Kanto deputy shogunate was divided into 3.  Meanwhile, the Uesugi Clan, which was hereditary for the butler-ship of the Kanto Deputy Shogun, was keeping its own authority.  In short, Kanto turned into a mess.  To make the matters worse, Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519) came from Kyoto to become a warring-states-period hero, and joined in the mess.

     In 1523, Ise Ujitsuna (1487-1541), the son of Shinkuro, changed his surname to Hojo (known as Later Hojo).  In 1532, as Ujitsuna was joining forces with Ashikaga Takamoto, the Kanto Deputy Shogun in Koga, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the Kanto Deputy Shogun in Oyumi, was becoming the only choice for Satomi Yoshitoyo (?-1534) to face the Later Hojo Clan together.  In 1534, however, or as a result, Satomi Yoshitaka (1507?-1574), Yoshitoyo’s cousin, launched a coup d’etat against Yoshitoyo with the help of Ujitsuna.

    However, Yoshitaka was always under the pressure of Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, and went over to Yoshiaki’s side.  In 1538, the Oyumi and Koga Kanto Deputy Shoguns clashed against each other in Konodai. Yoshiaki was killed in the battle, and Koga’s side won.  The biggest winner in the battle was Hojo Ujitsuna.  He made Takamoto his puppet, and grabbed hegemony over all of the southern part of Kanto but Awa Province.  The minor second winner of the battle was, ironically enough, Yoshitaka, who belonged to the loser’s side.  He could secure Awa Province at least, and could get rid of the Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, who had been a pain in his neck.  In the aftermath of the battle, the Later Hojo Clan and the Satomi Clan were to fight against each other head-to-head.

    After Ashikaga Yoshiaki and his first son, Yoshizumi (?-1538), were killed in the battle, his younger children fled to Awa Province, counting on the protection of Satomi Yoshitaka.  It was during those days that Yoshitaka’s first son, Yoshihiro (1530-1578), and Ashikaga Yoshiaki’s first daughter met.  Later, however, Yoshiaki's second and third sons were sent to Sekido-ji Temple in Kazusa Province and his 3 daughters were sent to Taihei-ji Temple in Kamakura.  They became under the patronage, or the supervision, of the Later Hojo Clan.

    At the age of 8 or 9, Satomi Yoshihiro was determined.

    After coming of age, Yoshihiro kept fighting fiercely and aggressively against the Later Hojo Clan.  He continued fighting for some 18 years. Finally, in 1556, he succeeded in intruding into Kamakura temporarily. He saw Ashikaga Yoshiaki’s first daughter, who was Nun Shogaku (?-1576?) at the time.  She had been determined too.  With her noble bloodline as a young lady of the Ashikaga Shogunate Clan, she could have been married to a son of a powerful family as her younger sister did.  The younger sister got married to Uesugi Norihiro (?-1551), the Butler or Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  Instead, Shogaku became a nun at Taihei-ji Temple, and had stayed there nearly 2 decades.  Yoshihiro was 26 years old at the time.  She might have been older than him.  Yoshihiro asked Nun Shogaku to come back to Awa Province, and she accepted his proposal.  Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571), the then head of the Later Hojo Clan, criticized their attempt as “incomprehensible” but all he could do was destroy Taihei-ji Temple.

    Yoshihiro married her as his lawful wife.  You might wonder why his samurai supported his romantic but rather selfish motivation.  He gained the largest territory for them.  Not bad for the Warring States Period.

    Some of Yoshihiro’s samurai had their own motivation to advance to Kamakura at the groin of the Miura Peninsula.  By that time, Ashikaga Yoshiaki had been killed, the Hojo Clan had destroyed the Miura Clan, and had organized their own sea forces.  Some of the Miura Sea Forces fled to Awa Province, and were hired by the Satomi Clan’s vassals, such as Masaki Michitsuna (1492?-1533).  Or Michitsuna himself might have been a surviving retainer of Miura’s.  Anyway, from that time on, the Izu Sea Forces of the Hojo Clan and the Satomi Sea Forces were to face each other head-to-head across the Edo and Sagami Bays.  

     It was the Satomi Sea Forces that occupied Joga-jima Island at the tip of the Miura Peninsula to make it an advanced base to intrude into Kamakura by sea.  They also let Nun Shogaku sail across the Uraga Channel to Awa Province safely.  Seeing their spectacular performance, all Hojo Ujiyasu could do was complain and destroy a temple in his own territory for revenge.

    For the descendants of the Miura Sea Forces, fighting back into the Miura Peninsula was not just homesickness.  They showed that they were the most powerful sea forces in Kanto.

    Later, however, presumably after her death, Yoshihiro accepted a peace treaty with the Later Hojo Clan.  He had lost his fierce and aggressive motivation to fight against the Later Hojo Clan.  Hojo Ujiyasu also might have found the treaty agreeable.

Address: 275 Tomiuracho Haraoka, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2403

The Return of the Princess

    The fleet left Joga-jima Island before dawn broke.  Masaki Michitsuna was sitting in a boat at the front of the fleet.  With no moon in the sky, the sea totally sank in the darkness.  Yet, he had a clear image of Yumi-ga-hama Beach along Kamakura in his mind.  He was also sure his crew could get to the beach even with their eyes closed.

    Satomi Yoshihiro was sitting on another boat in the middle of the fleet. He had fought as the lord of Awa Province against Hojo Ujiyasu after he came of age.  He had brought the largest territory for the province.  He had hidden his true motivation deep in his mind nearly 2 decades. However, all his men seemed to have known his secret dream since earlier days.  Without knowing his secret dream, who would dare to get engaged in this half-reckless intrusion into the heart of Kamakura, the longtime capital of the samurai?  Kamakura was also located deep in the territory of Hojo Ujiyasu’s.  The intrusion could turn into a suicide attack.

    The fleet arrived at the beach.  All the boats landed but a couple were still floating in the sea to watch out for a possible attack. The disembarked men moved into Kamakura, with only a few left to guard the boats.  As they intruded deeper into Kamakura, a couple of men were left at each corner to stand watch and to secure their withdrawal route. Finally, about half of the army reached their destination.  Were they attacking the samurai office in Kamakura?  No.  Were they robbing famous shrines or temples?  No.  They silently invaded a small peaceful temple at the foot of a hill.

    An old nun who got up early as usual noticed the invasion of rough and impolite men, and screamed, “How dare you raid a nun temple? Don’t you know who reside here?”

    Yoshihiro bowed to the old lady, and just moved on.  He came in the main hall of the temple.  A young nun was, as if she had predicted it, silently sitting in front of the deity, her guardian statue of Avalokitesvara, which she had inherited from her late father, who had been killed in battle by Ujiyasu.  She had been in Kamakura as a captive.

    Yoshihiro went down on his hands and knees.

    “You see me for the first time in 18 years, Princess.  I am Yoshihiro. No, Taro.  Do you recognize me?”

    The young nun kept silent.

    Yoshihiro continued, “I have a favor to ask you.  We don’t have time. Ujiyasu’s samurai will notice our intrusion in a moment.  Will you come back to Awa with me?”

    She remembered the promise he had made.  It was when they were no more than children.  18 years had passed.  And she was nearly thirty years old.  She was going to convince him to leave her in Kamakura and retreat from the city quickly.  She moved her lips.  Instead, against her will, she heard herself saying, “Yes, I will.”

    Yoshihiro and his men dashed back to the beach with Nun Shogaku and the old nun who had been her nurse since her infancy and was carrying the guardian deity of the princess with her on wooden shutters.  By that time, some samurai in Kamakura had noticed something unusual was happening somewhere in the town, but the first thing they did in a hurry was to strengthen the guard of the samurai office.  And that let Yoshihiro gain time.

    When the Awa crews got back to the beach, Michitsuna very loudly announced, “If a single arrow of theirs were to hurt Nun Shogaku even slightly, I have to kill myself to apologize to my lord, Yoshihiro.  Do you all understand?”

    “Yes, sir.”  And they pushed their boats into the sea quickly.

    The first boat left the beach with the nuns and the deity aboard.  The boats which had been floating in the sea gathered around it quickly to make themselves a shield against arrows, if any.  They were rowing their boats very compactly, yet flew out to sea off the beach swiftly.

    By that time, the sun had risen and some Kamakura samurai had realized the intrusion from the sea.  They hurried to the beach on their horses.

    The other boats from Awa left the beach by twos and threes, with Michitsuna’s and a couple of others at the tail of the fleet.  They shot arrows against the beach so that the Kamakura samurai couldn’t approach the sea easily.  By the time the Kamakura samurai started shooting arrows in an organized way, theirs futilely hit the waves.

    Of course, Kamakura had some boats.  But who would dare sail out of the port?  Their foes were those they called the Awa Pirates.

    It was still a little past noon.  Nun Shogaku was quietly sitting aboard a ship.  She had transferred from a battle boat to a comfortable ship in Joga-jima Island,  and she was sailing across the strait between the territory of the Hojo Clan and that of the Satomi Clan.

    She left her quiet reasonable days in Kamakura.  She was vaguely remembering her childhood days.  Almost all her memories were filled with battles and flights.  Yet, she was surprised to find herself peaceful and hopeful.  As peaceful as the sea.  As hopeful as the blue sky over her.  The hills of Awa Province were approaching her.

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #6 Hase-dera Temple

    Emperor Toyosakurahiko (701-756) built Hase-dera Temple in Nara in 727.  He also built new Hase-dera Temples in other provinces.  The Hase-dera Temple in Kamakura was built in 736.  Tradition has it that Gyoki (668-749) carved 2 statues of the 11-faced Ekadasamukha for Hase-dera Temple in Kamakura.  One of the two was brought here by Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358), and Ashikaga Yoshimochi (1386-1428) built another Hase-dera Temple here.

    Hase-dera Temple is located on a hillside overlooking the Katsuyama Fishing Harbor.  Because of the location, the temple was once washed away by the flood caused by the 1703 Genroku Earthquake.

    It was rebuilt in 1728, but was burned down by a fire in 1830.

    It was again rebuilt in 1844, but was destroyed by a typhoon in 1871.  The present temple was rebuilt in 1881.  How tough the temple is!

Address: 409 Katsuyama, Kyonancho, Chiba 299-2117  

Phone: 0470-55-3109 

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Tennei-ji Temple

    Tennei-ji Temple was founded by Nikaido Yukimori (1181-1253), who was the executive director of the Mandokoro.  During the Kamakura Shogunate, the Mandokoro governed administration and finance.  The position of executive director, serving also as the treasurer, was held by the Nikaido Clan since Yukimori’s father, Yukimitsu (1164-1219).  The temple originally belonged to the Vinaya School.

    In 1352, Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) invited Priest Ingen (1295-1374) and turned it to the Linji School.  The main deity was the Gautama Siddhartha statue, which had been brought by a Chan priest from Dingning-si Temple in China.

    The temple also has the thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue.  In 1655, the temple was burned down, but the statue remained unburnt. Since then, the statue has become famous for answering prayers against fire.

Address: 3180 Shimosakuma, Kyonan, Awa District, Chiba 299-2115

Phone: 0470-55-0639    

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #8 Nihon-ji Temple

    Nihon-ji Temple was founded in 725 by Gyoki (668–749) as a Hosso Sect temple. Tradition has it that the temple was visited by Roben (689–774), a monk of the Kegon sect and the founder of Todai-ji Temple in Nara, and later by Kukai (774–835), the founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism. In 857, Ennin (794–864) visited the temple and transferred it to the Tiandai school of Buddhism.

    In 1271, the area came under the control of the Nikaido Clan, and Nihon-ji Temple was burned during a local conflict in 1331, when the Genko Incident broke out countrywide between the Kamakura Shogunate and Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339).  The emperor succeeded in defeating the shogunate, but was defeated by another shogunate, the Muromachi Shogunate.  Ashikaga Takauji (1305–1358), the founder and first shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, rebuilt Nihon-ji Temple.

   At the end of the 16th century, Nihon-ji Temple came under the protection of the Satomi Clan. In 1647, the temple was transferred to the Soto Zen Sect, and Nihon-ji became a center of ascetic Zen practices in the territory of the Satomi Clan. Nihon-ji came under the control of Enmei-ji, a temple in present-day Minamiboso. During the Warring States Period, the temple fell into decline and even into ruin.

    In 1774, the priest Guden, the 9th chief Hoso priest of Nihon-ji Temple, carried out a large-scale revival of the temple complex. In 1774, Guden relocated the temple buildings to the southern side of the middle of Mt. Nokogiri, which was, accordingly, transformed into a sacred mountain. The Nihon-ji Giant Buddha Statue was built in this period, as well as the 1,553 Arhat stone statues.

    Nihon-ji Temple suffered much destruction during the anti-Buddhist movement (1868-1874) after the Meiji Restoration. Many of the structures of the temple complex in the precincts were destroyed.  Many of the Arhat statues were also beheaded in this period.

    In 1916, the restoration of the temple complex of Nihon-ji Temple began. A major earthquake in November 1939, however, again damaged the temple. The main hall, statues, and treasured Buddhist articles were lost in the fire.

    In 1989, the government of India presented Nihon-ji Temple with a sapling from the Bodhi Tree, wishing for world peace.

Address: 184 Motona, Kyonan, Awa District, Chiba 299-2100

Phone: 0470-55-1103

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #9 Shinpuku-ji Temple

    Shinpuku-ji Temple was founded in 850’s by Ennin (794-864).  Its original Avalokitesvar statue had been carved by Gyoki (668-749).  The temple was burned down in fire in 1555, in the midst of the Warring States Period, but was rebuilt in 1669-1673 by villagers when Tokugawa Ietsuna (1641-1680) was stably ruling the country, at the cost of reducing the savings of the Tokugawa Shogunate to no less than one fifth.  He also drove home to the people that every person must belong to a temple.

    In 1673, Priest Honsei invited a sculptor from Kyoto to have him carve a statue of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.

    The precincts have itabi, which was erected in 1316.

    The Kanto Region used to have unique religious monuments: Itabi. Itabi is a type of stone monument or Japanese pagoda.  It has a flatly-shaped body with a flat triangular-or-pyramidal-shaped top, and is supposed to have been used as a stone grave monument, a pagoda, or a stupa for remembrance.  The pagoda body can include images (tengai decoration, flower vases, incense burner, candlestick), sanskrit characters in a circle above a lotus decoration, poetic and religious texts, the commemoration date, zodiac signs and information about the builder and the reason for the creation of the itabi.  The itabi is placed directly in the ground or on a platform.

    Itabi were used in medieval Buddhism from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) to the early Edo Period (1603-1868), or from the early 13th century to the 17th century.  There are many itabi in the Kanto region, and they can be classified into 2 groups: the Musashi Province type, which were carved out of green-schist rocks from Chichibu County, and the Shimousa Province type, which was carved out of black-schist rock from Mt. Tsukuba in Hitachi Province.  They spread to other parts of Japan as the Kanto samurai were dispatched to those places to strengthen the power of the Kamakura Shogunate.

    Awa Province has only a few itabi and the itabi in Shinpuku-ji Temple was made of green schist.  That suggests a powerful samurai family or tow might have moved from Musashi Province to Awa Province, following the Satomi Clan.

Address: 637 Okatabira, Kyonan, Awa District, Chiba 299-1903

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Ojo-ji Temple

Ojo-ji Temple was founded at the top of Mt. Kannon in 1017 by Genshin (942-1017).  He also carved the Arya Avalokitesvar statue for the temple.

Years had passed, Ojo-ji Temple was abolished, and the statue was moved to Mitsugon-in Temple at the foot of the mountain.

Address: 1977 Kamisakuma, Kyonan, Awa District, Chiba 299-2113

0470-55-8303

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #11 Kondo-ji Temple   

    Tradition has it that Kondo-ji Temple was founded at Kohagizaka in 709 by Gyoki (668-749).  He also carved an Arya Avalokitesvar statue, and built a 160 square meter hall to enshrine it.  Hundreds of years had passed, and the temple had gotten buried under a field of grass.

    In 1280, Priest Genjo noticed golden beams of light from Kohagizaka and that a white cloud was emanating.  The light and cloud led the priest to where the temple used to be.  He plowed the grass there and found a gilded copper statue of Arya Avalokitesvar.  He bundled bush clovers to build pillars, put a thatched roof on them, and enshrined the Arya Avalokitesvar statue there.

    It’s a religious miracle that a carved (=wooden) image transformed itself into a copper one.  The mysterious transformation caused the temple to be named Kondo-ji (literally Gilded Copper Temple).

    In 1448, villagers built a wooden building to enshrine the statue.

    The statue might have a miracle power to be rediscovered.  In 1938, it was stolen.  Years later, it was found in Saitama Prefecture.

    The power might have effects even on other temple property.  The temple bell was cast by Fujiwara Tadanao in 1789.  It was delivered to the government during World War II.  In 1983, it was miraculously found in Chosei-ji Tempe, Yamanashi Prefecture, and was returned to Kondo-ji Temple.

Address: 1241 Kamisakuma, Kyonan, Awa District, Chiba 299-2113

Phone: 0470-55-8303  

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Fukuman-ji Temple

    Fukuman-ji Temple is located at the foot of 349.5 meters high Mt. Tomi, and was the first important setting of The Eight Dog Chronicles, Tale of Eight Dogs, or Biographies of Eight Dogs by Kyokutei Bakin (1767-1848).  In the cave halfway up the mountain, Princess Fuse and Dog Hachifusa lived together.    And later the 8 dog samurai retired to the mountain.

    One of the hiking routes to Mt. Tomi starts from the temple.  Another route starts from the cave.

Address: 569 Godo, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2221

Phone: 0470-57-2846

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Chokoku-ji Temple

    Tradition has it that Chokoku-ji Temple was founded by Gyoki (668-749).  It used to be located at the top of Mt. Kannon nearby, and was moved to its present place in 1846.

    Satomi Yoshizane (1412-1488) was based in the Takida Castle.  Anzai Kagetsura (?-?) was based in Tateyama.  A famine hit the territory of Yoshizane.  Kagetsuna made the best use of the opportunity and laid siege to the Takida Castle.  Yoshizane was cornered and whined to his dog, Hachifusa, “If you hunt Kagetsuna’s head for me, I will give my daughter, Fuse, to you.”  Thus, Kyokutei Bakin (1767-1848) started his masterpiece, The Eight Dog Chronicles, Tale of Eight Dogs, or Biographies of Eight Dogs.

    You can climb up to the site of the Takida Castle from Chokoku-ji Temple.

Address: 486-1 Shimotakida, Minamiboso, Chiba 294-0805

Phone: 0470-36-2678

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Shinsho-ji Temple   

    Shinsho-ji Temple used to be the shrine temple of Heguriten Shrine located at the foot of Mt. Iyo, which is the only mountain with a peak in Chiba Prefecture, while other mountains in the prefecture have gentle figures.  Mt. Iyo had been a holy spot to pray for rain even before Hosokawa Kiyouji (?-1362) invited Tenjin, the deification of Sugawara Michizane (845-903), from Kitano-Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto to build Heguriten Shrine in 1353.

The Gods and Buddhas Separation Order was issued by the Meiji Restoration Government in 1868, and Shinsho-ji Temple was abolished in 1872.

Address: 405 Hegurinaka, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2204

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Shofuku-ji Temple

    Tradition puts it that the11-faced Ekadasamukha statue was carved by Gyoki (668-749).  It used to be enshrined in Shofuku-ji Temple by the top of Mt. Osugi.  The temple precincts including the top of the mountain used to be holy ground for Shugendo; a sect of Esoteric Buddhism.  In its golden days, there would have been many Yamabushi, Japanese mountain ascetic hermits, performing sadhana.

    Shugendo was forbidden in 1872 by the Meiji Restoration Government, who regarded the sect as unacceptable because of its amalgamation of Shinto and Buddhism.  Without families who had graves in the precincts, that is, without periodical income, the temple declined.

    The Ekadasamukha statue was first moved to Joko-in Temple in Heguri-naka in 1914, and then to Kosho-ji Temple in 1918.

    If you climb up to Mt. Osugi, you can still find the leftovers: stone steps, a stone washbasin, stone monuments, and even a substitute stone statue of Ekadasamukha.  They are accompanied with wallows of wild boars.

The summer grass,

'Tis all thats left,

Of Ancient warriors' dream.

(composed by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), and translated by Nitobe Inazo (1862-1933))

Kosho-ji Temple

Address: 1162-1 Yamada, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2203

Phone: 0470-58-0242

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Sekigan-ji Temple

    Sekigan-ji Temple used to be located along the ridge of the Mineoka Mountain District in the Boso Hill Range in the southern part of Chiba Prefecture.  Its main deity was the11-faced Ekadasamukha statue which was carved by Kukai (774-835), according to tradition.

The temple had burned down in old times, and was rebuilt on the Kannon Height.  It burned down again in the first half of the 18th century, and was rebuilt again in the latter half of the century.

    In 1900, the temple burned down again together with the Ekadasamukha statue.  The temple was merged with Saifuku-in Temple nearby in 1906.  In 1907, a new Avalokitesvar hall was built in the precincts of Saifuku-in Temple, which was renamed Shogen-ji then. Mysteriously, or mistakenly, it was an Arya Avalokitesvar statue that was enshrined in the hall then.  In 2010, the mistake, whether it was intentional or unintentional, was corrected and an Ekadasamukha statue was newly enshrined in the hall.

Address: 374 Shimo-Kohara, Kamogawa, Chiba 296-0102

Phone: 04-7097-0183

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Seicho-ji Temple

    Seicho-ji Temple was founded by Priest Fushigi in 771.  He found an oak tree radiating 1,000 rays of light.  He carved Akasagarbha out of the tree, and performed ascetic practices in front of it for 21 days.

    In 836, Priest Ennin (794-864) visited the precincts, and carried out ascetic practices in front of the statue.  Since then, the temple has belonged to the Tiantai School of Buddhism.

    Nichiren was born on February 16, 1222 in Tojo County, Awa Province. When he became 12 years old, he entered Seicho-ji Temple and learned basic Buddhist theories.  When he turned 16, he entered the Buddhist priesthood in the temple.

    Accordingly, Seicho-ji Temple became one of the 4 most important holy places for the Nichiren Buddhist Schools, along with Tanjo-ji, Ikegami-Honmon-ji, and Kuon-ji Temples.  Nichiren was born where Tanjo-ji Temple is located today, and died in Ikegami-Honmon-ji Temple.  Kuon-ji Temple is, as you may know, the headquarters of the Nichiren Sect.

     As a Tiantai School temple, Seicho-ji Temple used to forbid people from the Nichiren Sect to come inside the precincts.  But, in 1920, it lifted the prohibition.  And, what is more, it converted itself to a Nichiren Sect in 1949.

Address: 322-1 Kiyosumi, Kamogawa, Chiba 299-5505

Phone: 04-7094-0525

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Ishimi-do Temple

    Ishimi-do Temple used to be on a rocky islet off the beach.  It was moved to its present place by the middle 19th century.

   Tradition has it that Gyoki (668-749) carved the statue of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, in 993.  It was moved to Kongo-in Temple nearby in 1872, 4 years after the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order was issued by the Meiji Restoration Government in 1868, but was returned to Ishimi-do Temple in 1882.

Address: 2260-1 Kaisuka, Kamogawa, Chiba 296-0004

Phone: 04-7092-1793

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #19 Fumon-ji Temple

    Tradition has it that Gyoki (668-749) carved an Arya Avalokitesvar statue in 747 and put it in a hermitage in a mountain, which later became Fumon-ji Temple.  It used to be called the Rock Face Avalokitesvar.  The temple was moved to its present place in 1844, and the statue was further moved to Shomon-ji Temple in 1917.

    Shomon-ji Temple was founded by Sanada Gengo (?-?), who fought for the Ashikaga Shogunate in the Yuki War in 1440.  Who fought against who in the Yuki War?

    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.  Gien became the sixth shogun, Yoshinori (1394-1441), who assassinated his political opponents one after another.

    Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the deputy shogun in Kamakura, was forced to commit suicide by Yoshinori, the then shogun.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered Mochiuji’s 2 sons, Shuno-maru and Yasuo-maru, in his castle, and rebelled against Yoshinori in 1440.  That was the Yuki War.

    On April 16, 1441, Ujitomo's castle fell and he and his eldest 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)

    Anyway, Sanada Gengo jumped on the bandwagon from Sanada County, Shinano Province.  His family settled in the Mihara area, ruled the territory, and made Shibun-ji Temple their family temple.

    The precincts of Shibun-ji Temple had been a holy place for a long time.  It is said that certain people had moved from the Miura Peninsula in the 12th century with their ritual of bone collecting.  In the back of the temple, there still lies the Cave of the Ancestors, which had been turned into the cave grave for the ancestors of the Sanada Family.

    The tradition of the temple says that Masaki Yoritada (1551-1622) turned the temple into the family temple of the Masaki Family in 1574 to pray for the comfort of his deceased father in the other world.  But it’s impossible.  Yoritada’s father, Tokitada (1521-1576), tried to get independent from the Satomi Clan, and sent his second son, Yoritada, to the Hojo Clan as a hostage.  In 1575, the eldest son, Tokimichi, died.  In 1576, Tokitada also died, and Yoritada was sent back to Awa Province by 1577.  So, if it was in 1574 that the conversion was carried out, it must have been either Tokitada or Tokimichi who did it.  If it was Yoritada who turned Shibun-ji into their family temple, he must have done so after 1577, unless Yoritada and the Hojo Clan predicted (or planned?) the sudden death of the two. 

Address: 270 Wadacho Nakamihara, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2716

Phone: 0470-47-3728

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Ishido-ji Temple

    Ashoka collected seven out of the eight relics of Gautama Buddha, and had their portions kept in 84,000 boxes made of gold, silver, cat's eye, and crystal. He ordered the construction of 84,000 stupas throughout the earth, in towns that had a population of 100,000 or more.

     Somehow, Priests Keimei and Tosho brought one of the 84,000 stupas here in 708, and built a hermitage.  In 726, Gyoki (668-749) visited the hermitage, carved the 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue for it, built a hall, and made it a temple.  In 851, Ennin (794-864) visited the temple, and built other temple buildings.

    In 1487, all the temple buildings were burned down due to a fire caused by burglars.  Buildings were rebuilt in 1513, supported by the Maru Family, who were ruling the area, and the Satomi Clan, who were ruling Awa Province.

    Who were the Maru Family? They developed the Maru Manor at the southeast corner of the Boso Peninsula.

    Since the end of the 8th century till the end of the 12th century, the governance by the central government loosened and local powerful families stretched themselves financially, politically, and, above all, militarily, to become samurai.

    The southernmost tip of Awa Province, or the Boso Peninsula at large, is Cape Nojima.  If you sailed westward from the cape, you would sail into the Edo Bay.  If you sailed eastward, you would sail past the Maru Manor, past a saw-toothed coastline, past a 60-kilometer-long sandy beach, past Cape Inubo, and reach Katori and Kashima Shrines, which had been built as advanced bases in ancient times by the then royal family to invade the Kanto Plain and the Tohoku District.  The Maru Manor was located at a good position to control the sea lane.  Traders who sailed past the area need the help of the locals too.  There ran and even today runs the Black Current.

    The widely-known written records of the Black Current can date back only to the 18th century.

    During the Edo Period, with Pax Tokugawa established, the economy grew slowly but mostly steadily.  The cultural level of ordinary people was increasing.  Even commoners could enjoy traveling.  The enthusiasm coupled with the higher literacy rate of the commonalty brought the publication of guidebooks and travel essays flourished.  We can find a couple of comments on the Black Current there.

    Furukawa Shoken (1726-1807) was a geographer in the latter half of the Edo Period.  He compiled topographies based on his own observations, and also integrated information based on hearsay into memorandums.  “The Memorandum of Hachijo” was a latter case, and was about the Izu Islands including Hachijo Island.  The memorandum was published in 1794, and he mentioned the Black Current in it.

    “The Black Current looks as if an ink stone were rubbed on the surface of the sea.  As hundreds of swirls are mysteriously flowing past, whoever sees the current feels just dazzled.”

    Tachibana Nankei (1753-1805) was a doctor of Chinese medicine in Kyoto, and made rounds of visits to various parts of Japan intermittently from 1782 to 1788.  He published travel essays from 1795 to 1798, which would be collectively called “Journey to the East and to the West” later. In one of the essays, he recorded a scratch of hearsay information on the Black Current.

    “They say that about 5.5 hundred kilometers off the Izu Peninsula, there are desert islands in the south.  The sea around the islands is called the Black Current.  The current is tens of kilometers wide, and runs like a large river, raging and rolling.

    “Furthermore, if you sail out southeast off Awa and Kazusa Provinces too far, you will be washed away east and shall never come back, as the current turns eastward away from our islands.”

    Without the help by the local sea peoples, those traders who sailed past Awa Province eastward might have gotten lost wide in the Pacific Ocean, only to wait for their deaths without food and water.

    The Maru Manor was first recorded to have been “given” to Minamoto Yoriyoshi (988-1075) by the central government for his achievement in the Former Nine Years’ War (1051-1062).  That meant for the Maru Family that the manor was authorized by the central government for tax exemption and immunity.

    When the direct descendant of Yoriyoshi, Yoritomo (1147-1199), was defeated in the Battle of Ishibashiyama, he flew to Awa Province and visited the manor, praying to the god of Ise Shrine for his victory.  After he defeated the Taira Clan, he presented the manor to the shrine.  As a holy manor, the Maru Family kept enjoying tax exemption and immunity.

    Good things didn’t last for the Maru Family.  During the Warring States Period (1467-1615), other powerful families, or then samurai, such as the Sanada and Masaki Families, broke into the area.  Today, only Maru Yoshihiro (1989- ), a famous slugger, continues the fame of the family name.

Address: 302 Ishido, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2503

Phone: 0470-46-2218

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Chiko-ji Temple

    There used to be Komyo-ji Temple on the top of Mt. Migori.  Migori literally means 3 counties as Mt. Migori stands at the border of Nagasa, Amaha, and Sue Counties.  The temple was moved to Mt. Kannon at the beginning of the 17th century.  In 1694, Priest Chisetsu moved it again to the precincts of Chiko-ji Temple.

Address: 1370 Yamana, Minamiboso, Chiba 294-0802

Phone: 0470-36-3624

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Kanshu-in Temple    

    Awa Province was located at the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula, and had mountains and seas with a few flatlands.  Mountain people regarded some mountains as holy.  Later, their mountain worship was amalgamated with a newly imported worship, the belief in Avalokitesvar, and the amalgamation was often related with Gyoki (668-749), sometimes even without grounds.

    On Mt. Ryogai, the thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue was installed.  The statue came to be believed to have carved by Gyoki, and was enshrined in a hermitage at the top of the mountain.  The temple was named Kanshu-in at the turn of the 18th century, and moved to its present place by Priest Eiga in 1752.

Kanshu-in Temple has enshrined the Sahasrabhuja statue.

Address: 35 Kamihori, Minamiboso, Chiba 294-0825

Phone: 0470-36-2679     

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Hoju-in Temple

    Hoju-in Temple was founded as Jitsujo-in in 1404 by Priest Yukai, who was offered the abhiseka ritual in Shingon Buddhism in 1428.  In February, 1429, Nakayama Sadachika (?-1459) received the information that Yukai wanted to be ranked as risshi, the third highest rank among Buddhist priests and monks.  Sadachika reported the information to Emperor Go-Hanazono (1419-1471), and the conferment letter was issued.

    However, Yukai turned out to be dead.  After the abhiseka ritual, he had visited Musashi Province for further esoteric practice, and had died there.  After his death, he often appeared in the dreams of his acquaintances, lamenting that he was at a loss at the bank of the Sanzu River, the border river between this and the other worlds, without any Buddhist rank.  People applied for risshi rank by proxy for the late Priest Yukai.

    Later, when Priest Yuden, Yukai’s successor, was going to draw water from a well, the water surface showed the letters “ho", treasure, and “ju", ball. And he renamed the temple Hoju-in.

    The well is still in front of the main hall, and called Akai, or the Aka Well.  Aka in Japanese is Argha in Sanskrit.  Argha is oblation water, which is delivered to the Buddhist images.

    The 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue had been carved by Jokai in 1307 and was enshrined in Saiko-in Temple, which Yuden’s mother, Priestess Myoko, founded.  Or, finically speaking, both the temples were actually built by Yuden’s father, or Myoko’s husband, whose name wasn’t recorded.  He was very religious, or he might have had a good reason to build a sanatorium for his son.  His dedication worked.  The temple was approved the fieldsfarmland, which brought $8,000-worth of income to his son.  How many hallucinations did the son have?

Address: 687 Fuchu, Minamiboso, Chiba 294-0823

Phone: 0470-36-2581   

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Enmei-ji Temple

    Enmei-ji Temple was founded by Satomi Sanetaka (1484-1533) in 1510.  He invited Priest Bontei (?-1558), who was from Kozuke Province. The hill at the back of the temple has the graves of Satomi Sanetaka, Yoshitaka (1507-1574), and Yoshihiro (1530-1578), whose romance with Priestess Shogaku is famous.

    Enmei-ji Temple has itabi in its precincts.

    Itabi is a type of stone monument or Japanese pagoda.  It has the flatly-shaped body with a flat triangular-or-pyramidal-shaped top, and is supposed to have been used as a stone grave monument, a pagoda, or a stupa for remembrance.  The pagoda body can include images (tengai decoration, flower vases, incense burner, candlestick), sanskrit characters in a circle above a lotus decoration, poetic and religious texts, the commemoration date, zodiac signs and information about the builder and the reason for the creation of the itabi.  The itabi is placed directly in the ground or on a platform.

    Itabi were used in medieval Buddhism from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) to the early Edo Period (1603-1868), or from the early 13th century to the 17th century.  There are many itabi in the Kanto region, and they spread to other parts of Japan as the Kanto samurai were dispatched to those places to strengthen the power of the Kamakura Shogunate.

    The itabi in Enmei-ji Temple is 126 centimeters tall and 32 centimeters wide.  The top has tengai decoration with the Sanskrit letters Hilih, Sa, and Sah, which imply Amitabha, Arya Avalokitesvara, and Mahasthamaprapta respectively.  It is made of green schist, and is the southernmost green-schist itabi in the Boso Peninsula.  As that type of itabi was popular in Musashi Province, some samurai might have made their way to Awa Province from there.

Address: 2014-1 Motoori, Minamiboso, Chiba 294-0822

Phone: 0470-36-2166

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Mano-ji Temple

     Mano-ji Temple was founded by Gyoki on the top of Mt. Takakura in 725.

     Its main deity, the Avalokitesvara statue, worked serious wonders at first.  If you had anything to feel a little guilty about, you were punished.  All the villagers became afraid of the wonders, and nobody visited the temple.  In 860, Ennin (794-864) visited the temple, heard the story, saw the villagers suffering a lot of calamities, felt pity for the people, and carved a mask to cover the face of the statue.  Since then, the Avalokitesvara statue has become very merciful and lenient.   Although the statue is exhibited to the public annually on November 23, its face has never been shown.

    While Ennin was making prayers in the temple day and night, Mahakala appeared from the cloud in the east on lunar-calendar January 6.  He carved a Mahakala statue promptly.  The temple still holds a festival for Mahakala on the solar-calendar February 6.

    The temple burned down in 1206, and was rebuilt by Hojo Yoshitoki (1163-1224) in its present place.

Address: 587 Kubo, Minamiboso, Chiba 299-2524

Phone: 0470-46-2590

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Komatsu-ji Temple

      Mt. Komatsu used to be a holy place for local mountain worship. En Ozuno (634-707) built a hermitage there at the turn of the 8th century. In 718, a 3.24-square-meter hall was built, and was named Komatsu-ji Temple.  In 831, Ennin  (794-864) rebuilt the hall, added a pagoda, and enshrined the guardian god of the Tiantai School of Buddhism.

     In the 8th century, a fire left the temple in ruins for decades.  In 920, Komatsu Masakazu reconstructed the temple.  

    Komatsu-ji Temple has Seven Wonders: the Rain under the Clear Skies, the Bell under the Ground, the Sutra Recitation on a Dark Night, a Tengu to Fly About, Halved Star Anise Leaves, the Rainbow-Colored Deep Pool, and the Waterfall of Otoo.

    On February 15, 921, a celebration of the rebuilding of Koamtsu-ji Temple was held, and Masakazu's son, Chiyowaka-maru performed child dances as a part of the celebration.  All of a sudden, the buildings shook and a tengu emerged.  It grabbed the young boy and flew north.  One of Masakazu’s vassals, Igarashi Saemon, recognized it as a tengu from Mt. Iyo, and rushed to the mountain on his horse, only to find the body of the boy.  Otoo, presumably Chiyowaka-maru’s foster brother, threw himself into the waterfall near Komatsu-ji Temple.

     From that day on, every year on February 15, it rained however fine skies there were.

     After the incident, the priest of the temple invited Izuna Gongen, the manifestation of buddha which is often depicted as the form of crow tengu holding a sword and a rope and riding on a white fox.  After the invitation, the tengu in the mountain stopped their evil deeds.  However, it is said that we can recognize the shadows and sounds of flying tengu in the woods even today.

Now, we have covered 3 out of 7 wonders, though I don’t know why the Waterfall of Otoo can be a wonder.

     The fourth wonder is about the first Buddhist bell of the temple.  One day, a landslide hit the temple and washed the bell away.  One of the two Deva Kings at the temple gate stretched his arm and grabbed the bell.  But the landslide was more powerful than his muscles and carried the bell down together with his arm.  The bell and the arm was buried under the earth and sand of the lower reaches of Seto River.  Since then, whenever it rained hard and the river overflowed, the bell rang from the depth of the river, “I miss Komatsu.  Ding-dong.  Ding-dong.”  You ask me what the arm said?  I have no idea.

     The fifth wonder is that you can hear the sounds of sutra being read aloud under the floor of the main hall in the middle of the night.

     When En Ozuno (634-701) was training himself in the main hall, he had a routine of halving a leaf of a Japanese star anise and putting it in front of Buddha.  Since then, the anise tree in the precincts came to have halved leaves only.  The tree burned down in a fire, and another tree with spotted leaves was planted instead.  That is the sixth wonder.

     The seventh and last wonder is that the river in front of the temple shows seven colors.

     In may, 1790, the grave of Otoo was built by Ando Ikuemon.  In April, 1997, it was actually found on the top of Mt. Komatsuji.

     The Buddhist bell in the temple was donated in 1374 to mourn the death of Chiyowakamaru.

     Yet, it is unknown whether Chiyowakamaru and Otoo actually existed or were legendary.

Address: 1057 Chikuracho Onuki, Minamiboso, Chiba 295-0013

Phone: 0470-44-2502

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Sumiyoshi-dera Temple

     The hill on which Sumiyoshi-dera Temple is located used to be an isle, Nakajima Isle.  Worshippers had to sail across the sea.  On December 31, 1703, the Great Genroku Earthquake hit the Kanto area.  As the isle was near the epicenter, the seabed upheaved and the isle became a hill.  Even today, there is still a post to which they used to moor boats at the foot of the hill to the temple.

     Another unique point of the temple is that it enshrines the mahasthamaprapta statue which was netted by a fisherman in the 19th century.  The modern capture of a Buddhist image demonstrated the ancient emergence of Buddhist images from the sea was not groundless.

     The statue is called Nintosanya-son.  Nintosanya literally means the 23rd night of the month on the lunar calendar.  It used to be believed that all your sins ceased to exist if you worshipped mahasthamaprapta on that night.

Address: 1353 Chikuracho Minamiasai, Minamiboso, Chiba 295-0012

Phone: 0470-44-1865

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Sumiyoshi-dera Temple

     The hill on which Sumiyoshi-dera Temple is located used to be an isle, Nakajima Isle.  Worshippers had to sail across the sea.  On December 31, 1703, the Genroku Great Earthquake hit the Kanto area.  As the isle was near the epicenter, the seabed upheaved and the isle became a hill.  Even today, there is still a post to which they used to moor a boat at the foot of the hill to the temple.

     Another unique point of the temple is that it enshrines the mahasthamaprapta statue which was netted by a fisherman in the 19th century.  The modern capture of a Buddhist image demonstrated the ancient emergence of Buddhist images from the sea was not groundless.

     The statue is called Nintosanya-son.  Nintosanya literally means the 23rd night of the month on the lunar calendar.  It used to be believed that all your sins ceased to exist if you worship mahasthamaprapta on the night.

Address: 1353 Chikuracho Minamiasai, Minamiboso, Chiba 295-0012

Phone: 0470-44-1865

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Matsunoo-ji Temple

     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 Warring States Period was also the time where people once deemed low-ranked took the upper hand from the high-ranked people.  The Kanamari County had been governed by the Kanamari Family.  But, presumably sometime during the Kyotoku War, Kanamari Kagesada was cornered into suicide by his vassal, Yamamoto Sadakane.  But soon Sadakane was killed by the Maru and Anzai Families.  2 Years after Kagesada’s death, the county people built a hall to chant prayers for him and his family on Iwasaki Terrace, and had the Arya Avalokitesvara statue carved.  The hall was named Manpuku-ji in 1448, and was later renamed Matsunoo-ji.

     Matsunoo-ji Temple fell down along with the other 2 temples, Raigo-in and Anraku-in, in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.  The Buddhist images which survived the earthquake were moved to Jisho-in Temple, which still has the Cave of the Ancestors, the cave grave for the ancestors of the Kanamari Family.

Address: 4612 Kanamari, Tateyama, Chiba, 294-0023

Phone: 0470-28-0644

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Konren-in Temple

     Konren-in Temple has the Hishaku-zuka Mound.  Hishaku literally means flying staff.

     Long time ago, a priest visited the area from Izu Province.  A big black dog appeared in front of him, bit his garb, and wouldn’t let him go.  The priest let the dog lead him, and arrived at the mound.  It madly barked with joy and was uncontrollable for the priest.  As he wielded his staff, the 6 rings of it dispersed and the dog disappeared.  The priest built a hermitage and enshrined the 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue.

     On the top of the mound, the Chinji-ishi Stone had been enshrined, which had been brought from the Palace of the Dragon King.

     Konren-in Temple was founded later in 1232.

     Hishaku-zuka Mound became very popular at the beginning of the 18th century, and people drew Chinese characters from a sutra on stones.  The sutra was accomplished in 2 decades with 19,500 stones and was buried in the middle of the mound. 

Address: 379 Inuishi, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0226

Phone: 0470-28-0159

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #30 Kannon-ji Temple

     Kannon-ji Temple was founded in 717. Tradition has it that an earthquake hit the area and dried a pond.  The guardian snake of the pond brought a disaster to the area.  The snake was eliminated by En Ozuno (634-701).

     The precincts have a cave in which the stone statue of Ozuno is enshrined.

     In the Eight Dog Chronicles, Tale of Eight Dogs, or Biographies of Eight Dogs by Kyokutei Bakin (1767-1848), it was out of this cave that En Ozuno emerged in front of Fuse Hime, and he gave her a Buddhist rosary with the Chinese characters for Humanity, Justice, Courtesy, Intellect, Loyalty, Trust, Faithfulness, and Observance.  The precincts even have the Vajira Spring.  Ozuno is said to have the spring gush out with his psychic power.

     The temple used to be the shrine temple of Suzaki Shrine nearby.

     The precincts also have a colony of Japanese silver grass, whose first blade was believed to have been planted by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) when he escaped from Izu Province after he had raised his first army in failure.

Address: 1331 Sunosaki, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0316

Phone: 0470-29-0833

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Chofuku-ji Temple

     In 725, Gyoki carved the thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue and enshrined it on Bokkedai Hill.  The statue has been called Tateyama Kannon.

     The building for the statue survived the 1616, 1633, and 1703 earthquakes.  But the statue was finally moved to Chofuku-ji Temple after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.

     When people outside Awa Province, especially those from Edo, went on the Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, they used to visit Chofuku-ji Temple last and sailed out of Numa Port to leave the province.

Address: 928 Tateyama, Chiba 294-0036

Phone: 0470-22-1981

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Koami-ji Temple

     Tradition has it that Koami-ji Temple was founded in 710 by Gyoki (668-749).  At the age of 12?  Unbelievable.

Many priests and monks, including Roben (689-774), Kukai (774-835), and   Ennin (794-864), practiced Vajrayana in the precincts.  In 1286, Mononobe Kunimitsu casted a Buddhist temple bell for the temple.  The Mononobe Family, whose business was casting and molding, used to be based in Tannan County, Kawachi Province.  When the Great Buddha of Kamakura was made in 1252, they moved there, and resided in the Mori Manor in Sagami Province after the construction.

     The temple declined, but was revived in 1475 by Priest Soshu, supported by Satomi Yoshizane (1412-1488), who was the founder of the Satomi Clan in Awa Province.

     In the hill to the north of the temple, there lie 2 caves, which presumably used to be the Cave of the Ancestors, cave graves of the ancient local peoples.

Address: 859 Idenoo, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0026

Phone: 0470-23-7226

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #33 Kannon-in Temple

     Kannon-in Temple has the Arya Avalokitesvara statue, which is always hidden.  Instead, it has a display statue.  Both the statues are supposed to have been carved in the 9-12th century.

Address: 372 Nishinagata, Tateyama, Chiba 294-0027

Phone: 0470-23-7289

Virtual Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #34 Takimoto-Kannon-do Temple

     Why the 34th?  Did they copy the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage instead of the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage or the Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage?  No information on it has survived the waves of the history.

     There used to be a Chotoku-ji Temple in Furuhata.  In 1232, when the Old Awa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized by Priest Jihi, its thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue was included.  The building for the statue came to be called Takimoto-do.  In 1522, Kasuya Iedane revived the temple.

     The Kasuya Family was started by Fujiwara Motokata, one of the sons of Yoshikata, who became Senior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade, the 11th in the Japanese court ranks, in 853.

     Motokata moved to Kasuya Manor, Osumi County, Sagami Province.  The main members of the family were all killed in the Jokyu War in 1221.

Address: 1718 Hiratsuka, Kamogawa, Chiba 296-0232

Phone: 04-7098-0178

     I have virtually walked up the Old Awa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, noticing the area has something to do with the Eight Dog Chronicles, Tale of Eight Dogs, or Biographies of Eight Dogs by Kyokutei Bakin (1767-1848) as well as with the Awa Pirates.  I also detected Satomi Yoshihiro (1530-1578) realizing his romance with Priestess Shogaku (?-1576) during the Warring States Period in Japan.  I will sail back across the Uraga Straits to Kamakura to see what was happening there when Yoshihiro intruded into the city to save (kidnap?) Priestess Shogaku.