Virtual Quasi-Saigoku Inage 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Noman-ji Temple

     In 739, Empress Komyo (701-760) got shick.  Her husband, Emperor Shomu (701-756), dreamt an oracle that there was a divine rock in Tachibana Village, Tachibana County, Musashi Province.  He dispatched Gyoki (668-749) there and had him pray to the rock.  The empress recovered completely.  In 740, the emperor ordered to build a temple there to enshrine the rock.  The temple was named Yogo-ji.

     The main deity of Yogo-ji Temple was the statue of Bhaisajyaguru, the Buddha of healing and medicine.  Accordingly, the temple also had the statues of Twelve Heavenly Generals; Kiṃbhīra, Vajra, Mekhila, Antila, Anila, Santhila, Indala, Payila, Mahala, Cidala (Kimnara), Caundhula, and Vikala, which were to protect and guard Bhaisajyaguru.  In Yogo-ji Temple, each general had its own building.  Priest Kaiken moved the building for Santhila to the present place sometime between 1532 and 1554 and named it Noman-ji Temple.  Priest Kanku (?-1714) revived the temple.

     The Santhila statue is 0.956 meter tall. Inside the back of the head has an inscription that the statue was made by Choyu in 1390.  So, it’s not the original one.

     The Arya Avalokitesvara statue is, judging from the style, supposed to have been carved sometime between 784 and 894.  Its back has an inscription that the statue was brought from Chomei-ji Temple in Iwakawa Village (around Iwakawa Bus Stop in Chitose today) and was repaired in 1674.

     Masuda Mitsushige was working and fighting for Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541) and built Enpuku-ji Temple in Shimosakunobe in 1522.  The Masuda Family had a fort-like mansion in the village.  In 1589, the Masuda Family was still living in Sakunobe as samurai.  His grandson, Takakiyo (1569-1650), moved to Kiyosawa Village, presumably after the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan in 1590.  As the leader of the family to start over at a new place, he was respected enough to have his portrait wooden sitting statue made at the age of 65.

Address: 354 Chitose, Takatsu Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 213-0022

Phone: 044-766-0009