Virtual Shimousa 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Chokaku-ji Temple

     Tradition says that Gyoki (668-749) visited Wakashiba and Avalokitesvara appeared in front of him in golden bright lights.  Gyoki found a holy wood and carved an Avalokitesvara statue out of it.  He built a small shrine and enshrined the statue in it.

     It is unknown when Chokaku-ji Temple was founded.  The temple used to be a shrine temple of Shorenji-Katori Shrine, which was founded in 1514.  So, the temple might have been founded in 1514 or later.

     Just to the north of Shimousa Province, there used to lie an orifice of a big inland sea, Katori Sea.  On the peninsula between Katori Sea and the Pacific Ocean, there stood Kashima Shrine.  On the southern coast of Katori Sea, there stood Katori Shrine.

     Katori Shrine was officially considered and actually worked as the gateway for the Imperial army to invade the Kanto Plain in Ancient Japan.  As they invaded the plain, they built many Katori Shrines in the Kanto Region.

     However, why in 1514?

     Chiba Katsutane (1471-1532) became the head of the Chiba Family in 1492, and was based in Moto-Sakura Castle.  From 1502 to 1504, he was attacked by Ashikaga Masauji (1462-1531), the 2nd Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun, who pitched camp in Koshinozuka Fortress, where Masauji’s father, Shigeuji (1438-1497), the 1st Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun, was once sheltered by Katsutane’s father, Noritane (1459-1521).  After Kyotoku War (1455-1483), the Kanto Region was in the Warring State Period, when yesterday's foe was today's friend and the reverse was also true.  Yet, Katsutane was also a person of culture.  He loved tanka poems, and organized so-called the Sakura World of Tanka Poetry.  When Noso Junso compiled Ungyoku Collection of Tanka Poems in 1514, some poems of Katsutane’s vassals and relatives were picked up.  Katsutane also built many temples and shrines in his territory.  Chokaku-ji Temple might have been one of them.

     Chokaku-ji Temple was surrounded with the stock farms.  Although the main deities of the temple are Acalanatha and Arya Avalokitesvara statues, someone built a stone statue with the name of the horse-headed Hayagriva carved on it.  On the 28th of every month, on the day of the temple fair, many horse breeders visited the temple with their favorite horse dressed up.

Address: 354 Wakashiba, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-0871

Phone: 04-7131-5139