Virtual Shimousa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Tofuku-ji Temple

 

     In 814, when Kukai was 41 years old, he visited the area and encountered a dragon, which said, “I’ve guarded the mountain for Bhaisajyaguru, as surrounding fields are dedicated for Bhaisajyaguru.  I beg you to carve a Bhaisajyaguru statue.”  The dragon gave Kukai a holy wood.  When Kukai carved the wood into a Bhaisajyaguru statue, he made 3 bows as he chisel once.  Kukai built a hall to enshrine the statue.  It is unknown whether the hall was named Tofuku-ji by Kukai or by someone else later.

     Tawara Tota (891-958) was an official of the Shimotsuke Provincial Government.  He was supposed to be from Tawara Village, Kawachi County, Shimotsuke Province. The county lay in the upper reaches of the Kinu River.

     Taira Yoshimasa left Kyoto to the Kanto Region in 898. He settled in Toyoda County, Shimousa Province. The county lay in the east bank of the midstream of the Kinu River, which ran east to the Pacific, and which used to be one of important inland waterways in the Kanto Region. He developed private rice fields in Shimousa Province.  Yoshimasa's 4th son, Masakado (?-940), was based in Sashima County in the same province. The county lay in the estuary of the Kinu River along the Katori Sea.

     Toda and Masakado potentially in rivalry over the water supply and transportation of the Kinu River.

     In 939, Taira Masakado tried to establish an independent country in the Kanto Region.  Toda prayed to the Bhaisajyaguru statue and successfully suppressed Masakado’s revolt, and was promoted to be the governor of Shimotsuke and Musashi Provinces. The Bhaisajyaguru statue, at the age of 126, brilliantly answered to Toda's prayer.

Address: 1033 Hiregasaki, Nagareyama, Chiba 270-0161

Phone: 04-7158-0021