Virtual Tama River 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Ensho-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when and by whom Ensho-ji Temple was founded.  It was revived by Priest Gakutetsu in 1587.

     What was happening in 1580’s?

     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. 

     Gakutetsu might have sought a shelter from the scene out of hell.

     An 8 centimeter-tall Siddhartha statue, which was presented by the daughter of Katayama Ienobu, who claimed to belong to the Minamoto Clan.  There were many Katayama Families in Japan.  the Katayama Family who claimed to belong to the Minamoto Clan and who produced a large number of Ie-something or Something-nobu was that of Tanba Province.  Was the daughter married to someone in Musashi Province with her guardian Buddhist image, which was said to have been carved by an Indian Buddhist sculptor at the age of 16?

     The precincts have a pond, which used to be filled with water till the 18th century.

     The pond produced a folk tale:

Omaru Village had an annual festival to pray for a good harvest.  They used 3 wooden lion heads for the festival, and kept them in the temple’s mud-walled storehouse.  One summer, they had a long dry weather.  One day, the priest found the pond empty, which had been filled with water in the previous evening.  That mystery happened for several nights.  The priest found it strange, and watched the pond at night.  At dawn, one of the 3 lion heads flew out of the storehouse to the pond, and started gulping the water up.  The priest called other people in the temple.  They held the lion head down and pulled out its tongue with pincers. After that, the pond had never dried up until the 19th century.  Due to the modernization in Japan, they pumped out a lot of underground water, and the pond dried up.  Once Confucius said that merciless politics was more ferocious than tigers.  For the pond water, modernization was more ferocious than a lion head.

     By the way, does a wooden lion head have a tongue?

Address: 851 Omaru, Inagi, Tokyo 206-0801

Phone: 042-377-7640