Virtual Gyotoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Hozen-ji Temple

     Kawamoto Yozaemon (?-1641) was a vassal of Katagiri Katsumoto (1556-1615), who was an important vassal of the Toyotomi Clan.  On September 15, 1600, the Battle of Sekigahara broke out between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa Clans, in which the latter won.

     Even after the battle, Katsumoto kept working for the Toyotomi Clan as a messenger between the 2 clans.  However, Yozaemon left for the Kanto Region, and settled in Gyotoku by the end of the year.  He developed wasteland along the beach, and taught locals how to build salt pans.

     In 1627, 12 years after the collapse of the Toyotomi Clan and the death of Katsumoto, he became a priest and founded Hoen-ji Temple, which locals nicknamed Shioba-dera, namely Salt Pan Temple.  The temple was succeeded by Yozaemon's offspring.  As salt manufacture grew, the temple became too small, and was moved hundreds meters southwest to its present place at the turn of the 18th century.  In those days, this part of  Gyotoku came to be called Honshio, namely Real Salt.  Yozaemon and his offspring must have known how to make good salt.

     Katsumoto handled military logistics since 1586 for the Toyotomi army.  It might have been in those days that Katsumoto employed Yozaemon as a salt expert.  After Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to Edo, especially after the conflict against the Toyotomi Clan became bitter, Ieyasu was worried over the self-sufficiency of salt and supported the development of salt production in Gyotoku.  It is unknown whether Ieyasu invited Yozaemon or he spontaneously found a business opportunity there.

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