Virtual Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Manpuku-ji Temple

     It is unknown when Manpuku-ji Temple was founded.  In the 1520’s and 1530’s, the front line between the Uesugi Clan and the Later Hojo Clan moved back and forth in Musashi Province.  The temple might have declined in those days.

     In 1542, Chigi Ujiyoshi financially supported reviving Manpuku-ji Temple.

In 1560, famine and an epidemic spread across the Kanto Region.  Taking advantage of it, Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578) invaded the region and attacked the Later Hojo Clan. Manpuku-ji Temple seemed to have declined again in those days.

     Priest Choi revived Manpuku-ji Temple for the second time by having the temple join the network of Negoro-ji Temple in Kii Province.  Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) started the battles against Negoro-ji Temple in 1583, and destroyed it in 1585.  As Toyotomi Hideyoshi destroyed the temple, so Manpuku-ji Temple declined again.  Choi also died in those days.

     It was Priest Ryueki who revived the temple for the third time by changing it a branch of Goji-in Temple in 1697.  Goji-in Temple had been founded by Tokugawa Tsunayohi (1646-1709), the 5th shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, in 1688 by inviting Priest Ryuko (1649-1724).

     Ryuko was born to the Kawabe Family in Yamato Province.  He became a Buddhist monk in 1658, and studied at Hase-dera and Toshodai-ji Temples in the province.  He further studied the esoteric Buddhism in Daigo-ji Temple in Kyoto.  In 1686, he was ordered by Tsunayoshi to work in Edo.  After Tsunayoshi’s death in 1709, he was disgraced and forced to go back to Yamato Province, where he died.

     Some argue that it was Ryuko who proposed the the policies and edicts against cruelties to all living things, the Law Prohibiting Cruelty to Animals.  The edicts included a large number of proclamations and ordinances issued from 1682 to 1709, when Tsunayoshi died.  If Ryuko was responsible to the policies, he proposed his ideas to the shogunate from Kyoto and was hired by the shogunate for the proposal.  Was he? 

     As Ryueki shared “Ryu” with Ryuko, Ryueki might have been a leading disciple of Ryuko.  In other words, Manpuku-ji Temple revived by joining the new network of Goji-in Temple.

     Manpuku-ji Temple has declined several times due to external conditions, and has revived each time.  If it ever declines again, will its statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of other 6 metamorphoses, revive the temple again?

Address: 395 Nagata, Hanno, Saitama 357-0062

Phone: 042-972-3336