Virtual Quasi-Saigoku Inage 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Enpuku-ji Temple

 

     Enpuku-ji Temple was founded by Masuda Mitsuhide (?-1558) in 1522, inviting Priest Setten (?-1576).

     Ise Shinkuro (1456-1519) moved from Kyoto to Suruga Province to make a Warring-States-Period hero.  In 1493, he invaded Izu Province and made it his own territory, getting independent from the Imagawa Clan in Suruga Province. Since then, he moved eastward and seized Sagami Province by the end of 1510’s.  Even before the unification of the province, Shinkuro was capturing Musashi Province castle by castle.  His son, Ujitsuma (1487-1541), was based in Odawara Castle.  In 1518, Ujitsuna succeeded Shinkuro.  In 1521, he started building and rebuilding big shrines and temples to show that he was not just a upstart.  His vassals followed his way, building small shrines and temples in their own territories.  It was on one of those days that Enpuku-ji Temple was built.  Masuda Mitsuhide might have been already working and fighting for Ujitsuna.  Finally in 1523, Ujitsuna, having an eye on the hegemony in the Kanto Region, changed his family name to Hojo, a samurai brand-name in the region.

     In 1634, the temple burned down and many documents were lost in the fire.  The then acting administrator, Toda Kiyonobu, and Ichirobe, a descendant of Mitsuhide, consulted together, and rebuilt the temple and the deity.  The name Ichirobe sounds that the Masuda Family had returned to farming after the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan in 1590.

     In 1795, it burned down again, losing more documents.  When Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) visited the village to carry out a survey to compile the New Chorography on Musashi Province, it was  Chuzaemon, a descendant of Mitsuhide and Ichirobe, who gave those information to Kotonobu.

     Around the precincts, there are 2 caves.  One is called Hakusan Cave, and is about 30 square meters.  The other is called Sarasvati Cave, which enshrines Sarasvati and the spring there never runs dry.  The area could have been a holy place even before the foundation of Enpuku-ji Temple.

Address: 7 Chome-10-1 Shimosakunobe, Takatsu Ward, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 213-0033