Virtual Hachioji 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Shingen-in Temple

     Shingen-in Temple was founded by Oishi Sadahisa (1491-1549), inviting Priest Eigoku (?-1526).

     Matsuhime (1561-1616) was born as the 5th daughter of Takeda Shingen (1521-1573).  

     Shingen allied with Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), and engaged Matsuhime to Nobutada (1557-1582), Nobunaga’s eldest son, when she was 7 years old and the boy was 11 years old.

     In 1572, Shingen started advancing to Kyoto, and the engagement was cancelled.

     In 1573, Shingen died, and her elder brother, Katsuyori (1546-1582), succeeded the head of the clan.  Matsuhime moved to Takato, Ina County, Shinano Province, to be patronized by another elder brother, Nishina Morinobu (1557-1582).

     In 1579, Matsuhime's sister, Kikuhime (1558-1604), was married to Uesugi Kagekatsu, so that the Takeda and Uesugi Clans allied.

     When the Takeda Clan was destroyed by Nobunaga in 1582, Matsuhime flew with 4 young relatives; Tokuhime (Morinobu’s daughter) (?-1608), Sadahime (Katsuyori’s daughter) (?-1659), Kaguhime (a daughter of Oyamada Nobushige (1539-1582) (?-1673), and Nobumoto (Morinobu’s son) (1574-1623).

     On February 2, 1582, Oda Nobunaga started attacking the Takeda Clan.  Through Kiso, Oda Nobutada intruded into the Takeda Clan’s territory, from Suruga Province Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616),  from Sagami Province Hojo Ujimasa (1538-1590), and through Hida Province Kanamori Nagachika (1524-1608).

     Matsuhime evacuated to Kai Province with Tokuhime, guarded by Ishiguro Hachibe, Shimura Daizen, Baba Gyoubu, Monk Kaami, and some foot soldiers.  In Kai Province, Sadahime, Kaguhime, and Nobumoto joined the party.  On February 5, they arrived at Kaito-ji Temple.  After several days, they moved to Kogaku-ji Temple.  On the 28th in the same month, Takato Castle fell and Morinobu was killed in the battle.  On March 11, Katsuyori killed himself with his sword.  Hearing of the rumor the Oda army started “hunting” the remnant of the Takeda Clan, Matsuhime and the children left Kogaku-ji Temple on March 23 to get out of Kai Province almost aimlessly.  The small 3 girls were no more than 4 years old.  They took a mountain byroad so as not to be found, crossed 3 mountain passes, and, on the 27th in the same month, they finally crossed the Ange Pass from Kai Province to Sagami Province and reached Hachioji.

    On April 16, Nobushige and his son (Kaguhime’s elder brother) were executed in Kai Province by Nobutada for betraying Katsuyori.  Nobutada valued loyalty and fidelity.  All the 4 children became fatherless.  As Katsuyori’s second wife was the 6th daughter of Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571), they had a slight hope that Ujiteru, who was their uncle and who was the lord of Hachioji Castle, would protect them.

     They were lucky that Ujiteru was a faithful person.  They stayed in Kinsho-an Hermitage (3 Chome-18-28 Daimachi, Hachioji, Tokyo 193-0931) under the protection of him.

     It was Nobutada who cornered Katsuyori into suicide on April 3, 1582, but he also invited Matsuhime to come to Kyoto to realize the cancelled-engagement. He valued loyalty and fidelity.   However, on June 2, he and his father were killed by Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582).

     In the autumn of the year, Matsuhime became a Buddhist nun in Shingen-in Temple under the guidance of Priest Shun'etsu.  She was renamed Shinshoin.  The suffix “in” showed that she was a nun, the middle “sho” was the other pronunciation for “matsu” and the head “shin” was the other pronunciation for “nobu."

     In 1590, the Later Hojo Clan collapsed and Ujiteru killed himself with his sword.  When Hachioji Castle fell, most of Hachioji samurai and locals killed themselves by the sword or by throwing themselves into the nearby waterfall, Goshuden Fall.  The stream turned red for 3 days.

     Shinshoin was lucky that the attackers included Uesugi Kagekatsu (1555-1623), her brother-in-law.  They didn't kill her or the 4 children, but how did Shinshoni witnessed the communal suicide?  Whatever she might have felt, she had to live on with the 4 children left and entrusted to her.

     Losing Ujiteru, their patron, Shinshoin moved to a shabby house in Hachioji.  She taught neighborhood children how to read and write, raised silkworms, and wove silk fabric.  With what little money she got by selling the fabric, she took care of the 4 children.  Although Oyamada Nobushige’s betrayal had been the indirect cause of Katsuyori’s suicide, she kept raising Kaguhime.

     When Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to Edo, he organized the Hachioji Corps of the Thousand with the ex-vassals of the Takeda Clan.  In other words, Ieyasu fulfilled the void which had lost its 3,000 inhabitants with them.  Hachioji became something like a colony of the remnant of the Takeda Clan.

     Between 1600 and 1606, Nobumoto became a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Sadahime was married to Miyahara Yoshihisa (1577-1631), and Kaguhime became a concubine of Naito Tadaoki (1592-1674) and later gave birth to his only 2 sons.  In 1608, Tokuhime died in Horen-ji Temple as Nun Shoni.  Shinshoin died in the hermitage on April 16, 1616, one day before Ieyasu’s death.  The hermitage came to be called Shinsho-in Temple after her.  (Address: 3 Chome-18-28 Daimachi, Hachioji, Tokyo 193-0931  Phone: 042-622-6978)

Address: 1970 Shimoongatamachi, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0154

Phone: 042-651-3545