Virtual Quasi-Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Yorin-ji Temple

     The Tashiro Family was defeated in Kamakura, and escaped to Ozone Village, and settled by Makomo Pond.  They were defeated next by the Kasahara Family, and escaped to Tsunashima Village.

     The head of the family was Tashiro Hidetada.  He became a farmer and changed his name to Shirota Yasaburo when he moved to Ozone Village.  As Tashiro Hidetada, he had put a 5.5-centimeter-tall Ekadasamukha statue under his helmet.  Although he had repeatedly defeated, he kept the statue as a farmer.

     It was on New Year’s Eve of the year 1499 that Kasahara Yoshitame intruded Tashiro's colony, and evicted the family and the followers.  After they settled in Tsunashima in 1520’s, Hidetada, or Yasaburo, enshrined the statue in a hermitage, and prayed for the peace and prosperity of the family and the followers.  However, he never forgot the disgrace.

     In 1527, when he became too old, or old enough, one night, when it was lightly raining, he and his old follower, or his old friend, sneaked into the Kasahara’s fort, where Ryusho-in temple ( 2 Chome-36-8 Okurayama, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 222-0037) is located today, to recapture the place, only to get caught.

     They were beheaded on Makomo Pond, their second home land, with their heads gibbetted along Tsurumi River.  A mound for their heads was built, which had existed near Otsuna Bridge (1 Chome-4-12 Tsunashimahigashi, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0052) until the high-growth economy after World War II.  Tsunashima was just across the bridge.

     Time went by, the Shirota Family kept living in Tsunashima.  Their medieval house is still preserved in Jidayu-bori Park in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.

     What about the hermitage and Ekadasamukha statue?

     Under the ruling of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Tsunashima area was cultivated and the population of the village increased.  The hermitage became something like the village temple.  Finally in 1649, when the Keian Announcements dated February 26 were believed to be issued by the Tokugawa Shogunate to tighten its control over peasants, telling them dos and don’ts, Priest Itetsu, dispatched from Daojo-ji Temple ( 9-30 Osonedai, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 222-0004 today) in Ozone Village, turned it a real temple, and named it Yorin-ji.  After the statement on the "Expulsion of all missionaries from Japan" was issued in 1614, all subjects of all domains were required to register at their local Buddhist temple, and all the local Buddhist temples were required to belong to a Buddhist sect or school.  An independent temple was considered something dangerous to the society.

     Anyway, as their settlement was plundered on New Year’s Day, the Shirota Family have never celebrated the New Year on January 1.

     The main deity is the Ekadasamukha statue, which is 5.5 centimeters tall.  The statue used to be put under the helmet of Tashiro Hidetada.

     Let’s see the winner’s side next.

Who was Kasahara Yoshitame?

     Kasahara Nobutame (?-1557) had at least 2 sons, Yasukatsu (?-?) and Yoshitame. Yasukatsu’s son was Terushige (?-1581), and Terushige’s son was Shigemasa (?-?), who became a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu.  It means the main lineage of the Kasahara Family survived as a samurai family.

     Kasahara Yoshitame was Yasukatsu’s younger brother.  Yoshitame’s son was Hirosada, and Hirosada’s son was Hironobu.

     When the Later Hojo Clan fought against the Takeda Clan in 1581, Hironobu was fighting to protect Toda Castle.  One of his relatives, Kasahara Terushige was killed in the battle.  Terushige’s son, Shigemasa was shelterd by Ito Toshichi, and became the vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1590.  Hironobu survived and participated in the besieged army of the Later Hojo Clan when Toyotomi Hideyoshi surrounded Odawara Castle in 1590.  As the castle fell, Hironobu broke down the fort, became a farmer, and changed his name to Tomikawa Yoemon.

 

Address: 1-18 Tsunashimadai, Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0054

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