Virtual Buso 48 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Seisui-ji Temple

 

     In 791, Sakanoue Tamuramaro (758-811) was dispatched to the eastern provinces to prepare for the war against the aliens in the northeastern part of Honshu Island.  In 794, he invaded the region, with the military successes of beheading 457 and taking 150 captive.  During the war, he recognized Vaisravana and Ksitigarbha as effective.  It is unknown where he met the two.  In or around the capital?  In the eastern provinces on his way to the northeastern region?  For example, in Musashi Province?  Or in the northeastern region itself?

     In 798, he built Kiyomizu-dera Temple for a 1000-armed Sahasrabhuja statue, and put the statues of Vaisravana and Ksitigarbha on sides.  The two side deities were supposed to guard the main deity.

     In 801, he invaded the northeastern region again.  When Tamuramaro brought back two enemy chiefs, Aterui and More, to the capital in 802, the two were killed against Tamuramaro’s intention to have them keep working in a unified Japan as chiefs in the northeastern region.  

     Tamuramaro might have passed by Koza County, Sagami Province, on those round trips, and recognized the area the best location to invite Avalokitesvara.

     Almost 8 centuries later, in 1596, Priest Zonsetsu (?-1610) found an 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue in a well, was inspired it was what Tamuramaro had made, and made up his mind to found a copy temple of Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which Tamuramaro had founded, and he named the temple Seisui-ji after Kiyomizu-dera.  Seisui-ji is the Chinese-style pronunciation of Kiyomizu-dera.

     Priest Sotetsu installed temple buildings from 1624 to 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.  That was a business opportunity for priests and temples.  Sotetsu took full advantage of the opportunity.

     Every year on October 19, Seisui-ji Temple organizes a 2-gong-and 1-dram nenbutsu ceremony, a special style.

Address: 1457 Shimomizo, Minami Ward, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0335

Phone: 042-778-0644