Virtual Tama River 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Myokaku-ji Temple

 

     Myokaku-ji Temple was founded by Priest Youn (?-1561), supported by Ahikaga Yoshiharu (1511-1550), the 12th shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate, who had never visited the Kanto Region.

     Kato Tarozaemon revived Myokaku-ji Temple sometime between 1596 and 1611.  Who was Kato Tarozaemon?

     Ogasawara Mochinaga (1396-1462) participated in suppressing the Hida Revolt in 1411.  In 1441, he made achievements in the Yuki Battle and in suppressing the Kakitsu Rebellion.  With those contributions for the Ashikaga Shogunate, he tried to make the head of the Ogasawara Clan, supported by Hatakeyama Mochikuni (1398-1455).  Mochinaga's 3rd son, Morishige, worked and fought for the shogunate, living in Nagasaka Village near Kyoto.  Morishige started calling themselves the Nagasaka Family.  His 3rd son , Nobushige, was also working and fighting for the shogunate, living in Nagasaka Village.  His son, Nobumasa (?-1572), for some reason, moved to Mikawa Province, and started fighting for Matsudaira Kiyoyasu (1511-1535).  Nobumasa was such a good spear fighter that he was nicknamed “Bloodshed Spear.”  He kept fighting for Kiyoyasu’s son, Hirotada (1526-1549), and even for his grandson, Ieyasu (1543-1616), who changed the family name to Tokugawa, and who unified Japan at the end of the Warring States Period.

     Ogasawara Yasumoto (?-1573) lived in Kake Castle, and also fought for Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).  He was killed in the Battle of Mikatagahara in 1573.  His first son, Yasutsugu, was killed in the battle against the Later Hojo Clan in 1582.

   In 1581, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), the then ruler of Japan, destroyed the Takeda Clan.  On June 2, 1582, however, Nobunaga was killed by Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582), and the ex-territory of the Takeda Clan became a state of anarchy.  There broke out countless revolts by ex-vassals of the Takeda Clan, and the samurai who had been dispatched there by Nobunaga fled and came back to Kyoto.  Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Later Hojo Clan were both seeking the territory.  Yasutsugu might have been killed in one of those battles against the Later Hojo Clan.

     Presumably, one of the Ogasawara Family moved to the Kanto Region, following Ieyasu, after 1590.  The guardian Buddhist image of Nobumasa had been made out of agarwood and was 8 centimeters tall.  The family members contained it in a 3-meter-tall Ekadasamukha statue and enshrined them in a hall which commanded a panoramic view of Tama River, concealing the whole bloodshed there. There arrived Pax Tokugawa, or the Great Peace of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

     Ogasawara Yasukatsu (?-1641) survived and owned the right to collect tax and rule in Tanaka, Sawa, Mine Villages, Kawachi Province.  In 1740’s, Kato Tarozaemon moved to Mine Village.  Under the Tokugawa Shogunate’s control, he must have migrated as a servant of the Ogasawara Family.  In 1740’s, peasant uprisings frequently broke out, and the ruling classes needed practically and  locally efficient managers, not idealistic and universal ones.

     Of course, we can find other Kato Tarozaemon’s in history.  One lived in Tsumagi village, Toki County, Mino Province, which is known for Mino ware.  When the lord of Tsumagi Castle was ordered to make roof tiles for Edo Castle, this Kato Tarozaemon baked them.  He is said to have been the founder of the ceramic industry in Tsumagi.

Keio University keeps a document mentioning Kato Tarozaemon dated January 16, 1690.

     In the Kitainari-cho site, a piece of wood was found with the name Kato Tarozaemon written in black ink.

     When the Battle of Komaki Nagakune was fought, the lord of Iwasaki Castle, Tanba Ujitsugu, was fighting for Tokugawa Ieyasu against Toyotomi Hideyosi (1536-1598).  As Ujitsugu was fighting with Ieyasu in Komaki, his younger brother, Ujishige (1569-1584), was guarding the castle at the age of 15.  Another Kato Tarozaemon, whose wife was the sister of Ujitsugu, was a member of the guard.  The army of Hideyoshi’s was moving to Mikawa Province to make a surprise attack on Ieyasu’s homeland, ignoring Iwasaki Castle, which was no more than a fortress.

     “To overlook them will bring eternal disgrace to us.  Those in Komaki don’t know the advance of the enemy.  If we fight and stop them, even if we are all to be killed in the battle, the news will reach to a liaison fortress nearby.”  After letting women and children to Myoshin-ji Temple nearby, 239 men launched a pre-emptive strike against the enemy at 4 in the morning.  At 5, a 2000-strong enemy force started attacking the main gate, and another 2000-strong sieged the back gate.  Ujishige made 3 sorties, only to be killed.  The fortress fell by 7.  The enemy left there at 8, and when the 20-strong rescue corps arrived, they fond 238 heads, including those of Ujishige’s younger brothers, Denshichiro and Shiroemon, placed side by side.  Haruta Shokichi chased the enemy, and got back the head of Ujishige.  Anyway, the heirs of Kato Tarozaemon inherited the name Tarozaemon ever since.

Which Kato Tarozaemon revived Myokaku-ji Temple sometime between 1596 and 1611?  Or did we have another Kato Tarozaemon?

     The former building for the 8-centimeter-tall 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue burned down in July, 1789.  In 1796, a big faithful contributor appeared.  He asked a Buddhist sculptor in Kamakura to make another Ekadasamukha statue and concealed the former one inside.  Mmm, did it escape from burning down?

     The precincts has itabi, which is 1.12 meter tall and the oldest in Kawasaki City.  Doshu built it on the middle day in the equinoctial week to pray for the comfort of Doshu himself in the other world before his death.  Who was Doshu?

     In 1455, the Kyotoku War broke out.

The Kyotoku War lasted for 28 years from 1454 till 1482.  During the war, Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438-1497), the Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, relinquished Kamakura and moved to Koga in 1457.  In 1458, the Muromachi Shogunate sent out another deputy shogun, Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491), from Kyoto for Kamakura, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura and stayed in Horikoshi, Izu Province.  From then on, there were Koga Deputy Shogun and Horikoshi Deputy Shogun in the Kanto Region.  On October 14, 1459, the 2 camps had a big battle in Ota Manor, Musashi Province. That was the start of the Warring States Period in the region.

     Doshu might have had a very definite idea to be killed in a battle before long.  Whatever fate he might have had after the construction of the itabi, iti is well-preserved enough to still have all the drawings, texts, and dates any itabi should have.

     Myokaku-ji Temple also belongs to the Quasi-Saigoku Inage 33 Kannon Pilgrimage as the #5 temple.

Address: 2454 Yanokuchi, Inagi, Tokyo 206-0812

Phone: 042-377-6302