Virtual Buso 48 Kannon Pilgrimage #5 Youn-ji Temple

 

     A hermitage was built sometime between 1264 and 1274, when Hojo Masamura was the 7th Regent of the Kamakura Shogunate.

     In 1263, Kubilai Khan, the fifth ruler of the Mongol Empire, took control of the lower reaches of the Amur River, subjugating the Jurchen and Nanai peoples as well as the Nivkh, who dwelt near the mouth of the Amur and across the strait on Sakhalin.

     According to the Yuan Shi, the official history of the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty China, Kubilai’s army conquered the Kugi of Sakhalin a year later, in 1264. The history claims that the Mongols attacked the Kugi when the Gilimi, who had already submitted to the Mongol armies, complained that the Kugi had invaded their territory.  Kugi was widely, especially outside Japan, believed to have been Ainu.

     Nichiren (1222-1282), a Buddhism priest, wrote an autobiography in 1276 on his religious activities from 1268 to 1275.  In the autobiography, he mentioned Ando Goro, a legendary founder of the Ando Pirates.  According to Nichiren’s narration, Goro was beheaded somewhere in north.  Who was Ando Goro beheaded by?  What was happening in the region to the north of Japan?

     Archaeologically speaking, the then Ainu people spread from northern Honshu Island, southern Hokkaido Island, and Sakhalin.  At the time, the iron culture was spreading northward from Honshu Island.  The spread of the iron culture meant the spread of iron arms.  And it was at that time that the Mongol Empire was invading the Amur river basin.  The empire had, as a matter of course, had the most advanced weapons at the time.  Ainu might have been competing against the empire for natural resources in the Amur River basin.  Was Goro beheaded by Ainu in Hokkaido or in Sakhalin?  Or was he beheaded by Mongols in Sakhalin or in the Amur River basin?

     Goro could have been beheaded by Gilimi.   Gilimi was the Sinicized pronunciation of Gillemi, the name that the Nanai people in the lower Amur used to refer to a people who called themselves the Nivkh.  (The Russians who explored the region in the seventeenth century called them the Gilyak.)  Even today, there are still approximately 4,500 Nivkh around the mouth of the Amur and in northern Sakhalin.

     Goro could have been beheaded by Mongolians.  In 1263, the Mongol Empire took control of the lower reaches of the Amur River, subjugating the Jurchen and other peoples. The empire encountered people with iron arms of Sakhalin a year later, in 1264.  In 1265 the people attacked and killed some local warriors who had allied with the empire.  The two were to clash against each other in Sakhalin.  The empire planned to send out an expedition to Sakhalin to subjugate the people in1273, but this failed to make it across the strait.  In 1284, waiting for the strait freezing over, the empire crossed the strait in the winter.  in 1285, the empire deployed a troop strength of 10,000 and attacked the people.  In 1286, the empire deployed 10,000 soldiers and 1,000 ships and overwhelmed the people.  They reached the southernmost tip of Sakhalin, and built a castle there.  Despite their defeat, however, the people kept trying to advance into the Amur River basin on the continent in 1296, 1297, and 1305.  In 1297, they crossed the sea into the lower reaches of the Amur River, and tried to abduct hawk hunters.  As hawk and eagle feathers used to be typical exports from the Amur River basin to Japan, they were trying to gain control over exporting the feathers.  They finally became obedient to the empire by paying tribute of hides and fur to the empire.  Paying tribute also meant barter trading.  The people might have been, from north to south, either Nivkh, Ainu, or the Ando Pirates.

     What was happening in Japan?

     In 1305, the Kagen Rebellion, or the Rebellion of Hojo Munekata (1278-1305), broke out at Kamakura, the samurai capital in Japan.  It was armed infighting within the Hojo Clan, who were virtual rulers of the Kamakura Shogunate.  It ceased within 3 months, but shook the foundation of the clan’s authority and power.  The Ando Pirates, Ainu, or Nivk, from south to north, might have found Mongolians to be a better trading partner.

     If the Ando Pirates were trading bear hides, they were trading with Ainu in Hokkaido, and Ando Goro might have been killed by Ainu in Hokkaido.  If they were trading tiger and leopard hides (possibly hawk and eagle feathers too) they were trading first with Nivk and then with the Mongol Empire, and Goro might have been killed by Mongolians either in Sakhalin or in the continent.

     Anyway, the Ando Pirates were not firmly on “Japanese” side, and those who were dispatched north to suppress the pirates were indirectly fighting against the Mongol Empire.

     The contact led to contraband trade between the Matsumae Domain in Hokkaido and the Qing China in the Edo Period, when Japan adopted a national isolation policy.  The silk clothes smuggled from Qing China were called Ezo nishiki, literally Ainu silk.  The Matsumae Clan’s public stance was that they were trading with Ainu, and that Ainu were importing the clothes from the Ulch people, who were living in the lower reaches of the Amur River.  Ulchi got those clothes through the “tribute” trade with the Qing Dynasty, but that was a secret.

     Let’s get back to Youn-ji Temple.  The hermitage first built in the precincts belonged to Tiantai Sect.  It is unknown why it was founded.  The precincts have some itabi which date back to the 13th and 14th centuries, so the samurai who supported the hermitage and built the itabi might have been dispatched to fighting against the Mongol Empire.  The itabi all had Pure-Land taste.  Priest Den’yo transferred the hermitage to Pure Land Sect in 1567 and founded Youn-ji Temple.  From 1560 to 1568, Uesugi Kagetora (1530-1578) invaded the Kanto Region every year after harvest time.  It is debatable whether Kenshin invaded the region in such timing to deprive the harvest in the region or with the harvest in his home country, Echigo Province, as military provisions.

Anyway, Youn-ji Temple was founded and revived when people there wanted to rely on divine Buddhist help.

Address: 3654 Honmachida, Machida, Tokyo 194-0032

Phone: 042-722-4545