Virtual Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Hosen-ji Temple

     Hosen-ji Temple was founded by Priest Sonju (?-1644).

     Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651), the third shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, dissolved many clans to strengthen the power of the shogunate.  This increased the number of masterless and jobless samurai and destabilized society.  To restabilize the society, he strengthened the danka system.  Every citizen was supposed to belong to a Buddhist temple, and every temple was to belong to a Buddhist sect or school.  That was a business opportunity for Buddhist sects and schools as well as for would-be priests.  The Soto Chan School and/or Sonju took full advantage of the opportunity.

     There might have been 3 possibilities:

The first possibility was that there used to be no temple in Koiwai Village, and the Soto Chan School sent in Sonju to widen their network.  The second was that Sonju was a masterless jobless samurai and became a priest, came to the village to find no temple there, started a temple, and joined the school.  The third was that Soju was a villager and made good use of the religious tax exemption system of the Tokugawa Shogunate, supported by other villagers.

     The temple burned down in 1849.  It was rebuilt later, but was downsized in 1912 by pulling down part of it.

Address: 557 Koiwai, Hanno, Saitama 357-0066

Phone: 042-974-1130