Virtual Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

      Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized sometime between 1716 and 1736 in Koma County, Musashi Province.

     Koma County was established in 716 by 1,799 immigrants from Gogulyeo.  Goguleo had been destroyed by Tang China and Silla in 668.  The immigrants had first settled in 7 provinces in Tokaido Region: Suruga, Kai, Sagami, Kamiusa, Shimousa, Hitachi, and Shimotsuke Provinces.  The first governor of the county was Yagwang.

     Yagwang first visited Japan in 666 as a vice leader of a diplomatic mission dispatched from Gogulyeo.  He seemed to have come into exile in Japan after the collapse of Gogulyeo.  As he was given the Konikishi title by the Japanese government in 703, he was a member of the royal family of Gogulyeo.

     After Yagwang’s death, Priest Seungle (?-751) planned to build a temple to enshrine the Vighnesvara statue, which he had brought from Gogulyeo, and to pray for the comfort of Yagwang in the other world.  However, he died in 751 before realizing the plan.  It was Yagwang's 3rd son, Seong’un, who founded Shoraku-ji Temple, Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 with the assistance of his nephew, Hong’in, who was a son of Yagwang’s elder brother, Gajung.  Both Seong’un and Hong’in were apprentices of Seungle.

     Although the pilgrimage was organized a millennium after the death of Yagwang and the foundation of Shoraku-ji Temple, I am anticipating finding something unique here.