Virtual Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Ryusen-ji Temple

 

     Ryusen-ji Temple was founded in 1024, and its Kannon-do Hall was built in 1025.

     Matsuda Samasuke packed Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra in a wooden box and presented them to Ryusen-ji Temple when the Later Hojo Clan was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) in 1590.

     Previously, when the Later Hojo Clan held Odawara Castle against Hideyoshi, Samanosuke joined them with his father, Norihide, and his brother, Masaharu.  In the castle, Norihide and Masaharu had secret communication with Hideyoshi, and Samanosuke told on them to Hojo Ujinao (1562-1591), who killed the two in the castle.  After Odawara Castle fell, Ujinao moved to Mt. Koya and Samasuke followed him.  He remained loyal to his master at the cost of the lives of his family.  His loyalty paid.  After Ujinao’s death, he was hired by the Maeda Clan with a high salary.

     Samasuke changed his name 2 times.  First, Ujinao gave his “nao” to him, and Samasuke combined “nao” with his father’s “hide” and called himself Naohide.  In Mt. Koya, he adopted his father’s nori instead of “hide” and called himself Naonori.

     East Asia, especially China, Vietnam, and Korea, had the custom of generation name.  The generation name is one of the 2 Chinese characters in a traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, or Korean given name.  The custom is called "generation name" because members of one generation share the same Chinese character.  Japan didn't import that custom as it was but in a crooked way.  In Japan, an aristocratic stock or a samurai stock used to share one Chinese Character for generations.  Let me call the custom a hereditary or descended name.

     However, the custom of generation name worked in another way in Japan: a war lord gave a part of his name, his non-hereditary or descended name, to his important vassals to have them take a pledge of brotherhood, or to make them a kind of blood brothers or sworn brothers.  The vassals put the given character at the beginning of their name to show their respect to their lord. Japan, in other words, imported the generation name custom in a rather crooked way, as is often the case when Japan imported a custom from China.

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