Virtual Quasi-Saigoku Inage 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Korin-ji Temple

 

     Korin-ji Temple was founded in 1525 by Priest Hosen (?-1554), who was the 7th priest of Jufuku-ji Temple (Quasi-Saigoku Inage 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #4, at 1 Chome 14-1 Suge-sengoku, Tama Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 214-0006 today), as Korin-bo Hermitage.  The suffix “-bo” sounds it was a retreat for the priest.  He enshrined the 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue in it.  It was after 1596 that the temple called itself Korin-ji.

     We can find a document, the history of the Ekadasamukha statue, dated November 5, 1469, saying:

     Kukai (774-835) carved an Ekadasamukha statue in a devoted and faithful manner, as he chiseled once he bowed thrice.  Somehow, the statue was brought to Shimizu Village, Takakusa County, Inaba Province.  A wealthy person there enshrined and believed in it.  One night, robbers burgled his mansion.  His daughter got her face cut twice by one of them, and fell.  Next morning, they found the face of the statue had got 2 gashes.

     The document says that the robbery broke out in the 7th year of Hoki, in the Hinoe-tatsu (Bing-chen in Chinese) year by the Sexagenary Cycle.  It’s impossible in 2 ways.  First, the 7th year of Hoki was 776, and Kukai was just 2 years old.  Second, the 7th year of Hoki was not Hinoe-tasu but Mizunoe-saru (Ren-shen in Chinese).  So, let’s think it broke out in the Hinoe-tatsu year by the Sexagenary Cycle.  Then the robbery could have broken out either in 836, in 896, in 956, in 1016, in 1076, in 1136, in 1196, in 1256, in 1316, in 1376, or in 1436.

     If it was 836, it was the 3rd year of Jowa.  If 896, the 8th year of Kanpyo.  If 956, the 10th year of Tenryaku.  If 1016, the 5th year of Chowa.  If 1076, the 3rd year of Joho.  If 1136, the 2nd year of Hoen.  If 1196, the 7th year of Kenkyu.  If 1256, the 8th year of Kencho or the first year of Kogen.  If 1316, the 5th year of Showa.  If 1376, the 2nd year of Tenju, if you supported the Southern Court, or the 2nd year of Eiwa, if you accepted the rule of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), the third shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate.  If 1436, the 8th year of Eikyo.  In 1196, in the 7th year of Kenkyu?  Who could mis-spel Hoki for Kenkyu?  No name of an era shares the same Chinese character with Hoki.

     The precincts have 4 old itabi.  The oldest is dated 1295.  Others 1348, 1391, and 1410.  The site of Korin-ji Temple must have been much older than the temple itself  as a holy place.

Address: 3 Chome-9-1 Hosoyama, Asao Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 215-0001

Phone: 044-966-5450