Virtual Buso 48 Kannon Pilgrimage #40 Eisho-in Temple

Eisho-in Temple was founded by Priest Gakuo (?-1587) and was supported by Kuzusawa Buzennnokami.  The Precincts have a Kannon-do hall which had been founded in 1447 by Priest Rin’an.

Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the 4th Kanto Deputy Shogun, was forced to commit suicide by Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394-1441), the 6th Shogun.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered Mochiuji’s 2 sons, Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru, in his castle, and rebelled against Yoshinori in 1440. On April 16, 1441, his castle fell and he and his son were killed in fighting.  Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto.  But on their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, they were killed, with their death poems left:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shun'o-maru) 

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

The 2 young brothers’ younger brother, Shigeuji (1438-1497), survived, and he later became the 5th Kanto Deputy Shogun in 1449.  Did Rin’an enshrine an 11-faced Ekadasamukha statue to pray for the comfort of those who were killed in disturbances?

Address: 452 Nakayama, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0374

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