Virtual Quasi-Saigoku Inage 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Sentaku-ji Temple

 

     Sentaku-ji Temple was founded by Kira Yoritaka at Karasuyama Village, Tama County, Musashi Province, in 1491.  Who was Kira Yoritaka?

     Kira Osauji (?-1290) was born as the illegitimate son of Ashikaga Yoshiuji (1189-1255), one of the important and powerful samurai that had the direct master-servant relationship with the Kamakura Shogunate.  Although Osauji was the eldest son, his younger brother, Yasuuji (1216-1270), whose mother was the lawful wife of Yoshiuji, succeeded to the head of the Ashikaga Clan.  Osauji started the Kira Family.

     Generations later, Kira Haruie was given Setagaya County in 1366 by Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367), the first Deputy Shogun in Kamakura.  Kira Shigetaka built Setagaya Castle at the turn of the 15th century.

     Yoritaka was the great grandson of Haruie.

     Yoritaka’s great grandson, Yoriyasu (?-1562), worked and fought for the Kanto Deputy Shogunate at first.  In 1524, Uesugi Tomooki (1488-1537) lost Edo Castle to Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541), and then Yoriyasu dumped the shogunate for the Later Hojo Clan.

     In 1549, the temple burned down.  In 1550, Kira Yoriyasu (?-1562) rebuilt it in Kodanaka Village.

     On the temple’s sumeru platform, where deities are displayed, there stand Vaisravana, Virupaksa, Brahma, and Indrah staues, which were made for the memorial to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1680-1709), the 5th shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunata.

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