Virtual Hachioji 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Sokan-ji Temple

 

     Monk Myoko came from Kyoto to Mt. Fukazawa in the Autumn of 913.  He found a cave on the top of the mountain and started practicing Buddhist austerities.  When the night got late, all of a sudden, a strong wind raged and the thunder rumbled.  8 apparitions appeared, flocked around him, and disappeared.  Next night, when he was reciting a sutra, a big snake came down from the ceiling of the cave, coiled up around him, and got to sleep.  Myoko took out a staff, hit the head of the snake with it, and said, “Wake up!”  The snake vanished in no time.

     Next morning, a god appeared with 8 children, and said, ”We’ve been impressed with your virtue.  Please stay in the mountain.  We will follow your god-blessed teachings.”  As Myoko asked who they were, the god answered that he was Gavagriva with his 7 sons and 1 daughter.

     What Myoko actually did could have been as follows:  He visited the Kanto Region to set up his own Buddhist parish.  He visited the Fukazawa area, and found the local people had mountain worship.  The main peak of Mt. Fukazawa and surrounding 8 minor peaks had their keepers.  When Myoko started practicing Buddhist austerities, 8 minor keepers came up to him first.  They were impressed with his austerities and left.  Next day, the major keeper came up to him and watched his austerities.  The keeper fell asleep and was scolded by Myoko. All the keepers were impressed with Myoko's novel and solemn Buddhist austerities and decided to learn from him.  Myoko, in turn, gave them proper Buddhist names.  Thus, the local mountain worship was incorporated into Buddhism: the local version of syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism.

     Myoko kept practicing asceticism.  In 916, he enshrined Gavagriva on the top of Mt. Fukazawa, chose 8 peaks around the mountain, and enshrined the 7 princes and 1 princess.  Later, he built a temple at the foot of the mountain.  Since then, the area was called Hachioji, namely Eight Princes.

In 939, Emperor Suzaku heard of his story and named the temple Jingo-ji, literally God-Blessed Temple.

     Jingo-ji Temple declined during Kyotoku War (1455-1483).

     Hojo Ujiteru (1542-1590) revived the temple in 1564, and gave it another name, Gozusan-ji.  Gozu is the Japanese name of Gavagriva.

     Ujiteru was defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and was ordered to kill himself in 1590.  The temple burned down in the battle.  Priest Shun'etsu (1507-1626) built a temple at the site of Gozusan-ji Temple and named it Sokan-ji after Ujiteru’s posthumous Buddhist name.

     The temple has a Kannon-do hall, which enshrines a 21-centimeter-tall Arya Avalokitesvara statue, which was carved by Genshin (942-1017) and which is said to have been the personal Buddhist image of the wife of Ujiteru, Hisa, who was a daughter of Oishi Sadahisa (1491-1549).

     When Hideyoshi laid siege to Odawara Castle, Ujiteru was a jingo and was holding Odawara Castle with his main force.  Ujiteru’s castle, Hachioji Castle, was guarded by remainders, with farmers including women and children, about 3,000 in all.  Hideyoshi’s allies from the Hokuriku Region, the armies of the Maeda and Uesugi Clans, flooded to Hachioji Castle with a force 15,000 strong on June 23.  The garrison fought back briefly, gave up, and killed themselves. The women, including Hisa, and children either committed suicide by the sword or threw themselves into the nearby waterfall, Goshuden Fall.  The stream turned red for 3 days.  The Hokuriku armies beheaded the garrison, women, and children to display their heads in front of Odawara Castle, which fell on July 5.

     The temple’s name plate was drawn by Donggao Xinyue (1639-1696), a Chan priest from China, and that of the Kannon-do Hall was drawn by Huangbo Yueshan (1629-1709), another Chan priest from China.

     Donggao Xinyue was born in Pujiang County, Jinhua Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. When he was eight years old, he shaved his hair in Baoen Temple in Suzhou, and traveled around Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. At the age of 20, he was taught by Juelang Daosheng of the Shouchang Sect of the Caodong Denomination. After Daosheng passed away, he went to Chongguang Temple and learned from Kuotang how to make a good writer. After Kuotang passed away, he stayed in Yongfu Temple, Hangzhou. Although he was a monk, he still participated in the anti-Qing rebellion in Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces in 1674, in response to Wu Sangui only to fail.

     In 1676, he was invited by Chengyi Daoliang, the master priest of Kofuku-ji Temple in Nagasaki  He traveled east from Hangzhou to Japan under the false names of Du Duoquan or Yue Dudu.  Although he did not belong to the Linji Sect of Chengyi Daoliang, he has to pay tribute to Chengyi Daoliang and his followers in order to enter the country. He arrived in Zhoushan in December, and got to Kyushu on the 30th of the same month. Finally, he reached Nagasaki on January 10,1677. Due to Japan’s lock-up order, he stayed in Nagasaki, a place reserved for foreigners, from January, 1677, to December, 1679. In the summer of 1679, he met Imai Hirosumi (1652-1689), who was the messenger of Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628-1700) and who was a student of Zhu Shunsui (1600-1682). Mitsukuni intended to invite Xinyue to Mito  Leaving Nagasaki. In May, 1680, he went to Manpuku-ji Temple near Kyoto to celebrate the 70th birthday of Mu'an Xingyao (1611-1684), wrote a book to praise and even flatter Mu'an, and asked Mu'an for help.  But  It was unsuccessful. Later, he went to Edo in the pretext of visiting Zuikei-ji Temple, but was eventually suspected to be a spy, and forced to return to Nagasaki.

     During his years in Nagasaki, Donggao Xinyue was very active in the fields of religion and art. He used Zen and art to make friends with the officers of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Finally, he was helped by Tokugawa Mitsukuni again, and Xinyue moved to Kotai-ji Temple, Nagasaki, in 1682. He left Nagasaki in June of the same year, and then stayed in the villa of Mitsukuni in Mito. During the period, he met celebrities from all walks of life and taught them Guqin. In 1691, he stayed at the Tentoku-ji Temple (now Gion-ji Temple) in Mito, and he officially preached his first sermon in October, 1692. In 1695, he passed away in September and was later regarded as the founder of Gion-ji and Daruma-ji Temples.

     Huangbo Yueshan was born in Quanzhou.  He was invited by Yunqian Jiewan of Fukusai-ji Temple in Nagasaki.

     In 1689, the 99th anniversary of Ujiteru’s death was commemorated in the temple.  Nakayama Nobuharu (1628-1689), the chief retainer of the Mito Domain, presented a new temple bell.  He was a grandson of Nakayama Ienori (1548-1590), who was killed when Hachioji Castle fell.  The inscription of the bell was written by Donggao Xinyue (1639-1696).

     The second priest was Zuisen (?-1586), who was a son of Oishi Sadahisa (1491-1549) and who was good at shooting and riding a horse.  One day, the boy was practicing shooting arrows.  Abruptly, he was enlightened and said, “This art is just to make a living.  I should look for the greatest teaching.” He threw away his bow and arrows and made up his mind to become a Buddhist priest.  Sadahisa had taken Hojo Ujiteru into his family.  That is, the Oishi Family had been half taken over by the Later Hojo Clan.  Sadahisa readily accepted his idea.  In 1564, he entered Mt. Fukazawa, built a hermitage at the site of Myoko.  Ujiteru ordered Nakayama Ienori (1548-1590) to build halls and invited Priest Shun'etsu as the first priest of the temple in 1566.  When Ienori was defeated in a battle in 1590, Shun'etsu covered him with his Buddhist robe to hide him from his enemies.

 The third priest of the temple was Gyosei (?-1590), who was born in Shimotsuke Province.

     The fourth priest of the temple was Tatsuo (?-1638), who was born in Katayama Castle in Musashi Province and who was a descendant of Oe Hiromoto (1148-1225).

     As you can see from these 3 examples, some temples were refuges or shelters for samurai who had nowhere to go.

Address: 3 Chome-2562 Motohachiojimachi, Hachioji, Tokyo 193-0826

Phone: 042-661-2149