Virtual Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Kodo-ji Temple

 

     All the documents that had been kept in Kodo-ji Temple were reduced to ashes in the Hanno Battle on May 23, 1868, at the end of the Edo Period.

     The precincts, however, still have an old itabi, which is dated 1338, one year after the start of the Northern and Southern Courts Period.

     The Supervisor of Temples and Shrines of the Tokugawa Shogunate kept the document about Kodo-ji Temple, which is dated 1649.  The document tells us that the temple was founded in 1376, when Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398) was the Kanto Deputy Shogun, and when it was relatively peaceful.  The precincts were, accordingly, a holy place even before the foundation of the temple.

     Priest Shoshun (?-1561) revived Kodo-ji Temple.  In 1546, Hojo Ujiyasu defeated Ashikaga Haruuji (1508-1560), the 8th Kanto Deputy Shogun, Uesugi Norimasa (1523-1579), who was the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate and was the last head of the Yamauchi-Uesugi Clan, and even killed Uesugi Tomosada (1525-1546), the last head of the Ogigaya-Uesugi Clan, in the Siege of Kawagoe.  The victory, however, cost Ujiyasu a lot.  His territory was exhausted, and many farmers abandoned their villages and farms, and ran away.  To get the situation under control, Ujiyasu standardized the taxation system in his territory and reduced taxes in 1550.

     Did Shoshun revive the temple to pray for the comfort of those who had been killed in the battles over Kawagoe Castle?  Or to religiously and psychologically relieve farmers?  Or to dodge taxes for locals, taking advantage of tax exemption for temples?

     Priest Iton (?-1616) revived it again.  Iton also founded Joshin-ji Temple, the Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #9.

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