Virtual Aduma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Kanzo-ji Temple

 

     Kanzo-ji Temple was founded in 1469 by Monk Kusho, whose Buddhist name literally meant Vacant Nature.  What did Kusho find vacant?

     The Kyotoku War lasted for 28 years from 1454 to 1482.  During the war, Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438-1497), the Kanto Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, relinquished Kamakura and moved to Koga in 1457.  In 1458, the Muromachi Shogunate in Kyoto sent out another deputy shogun, Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491), from Kyoto for Kamakura, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura and stayed in Horikoshi, Izu Province.  From then on, there was a Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun and a Horikoshi Kanto Deputy Shogun in the Kanto Region.  On October 14, 1459, the 2 camps had a big battle in Ota Manor, Musashi Province. That was the start of the Warring States Period in the region.  In 1467, the Onin War broke out in Kyoto, the central shogunate became unable to support Horikoshi Kanto Deputy Shogun any longer.  Yet, pro-Horikoshi samurai kept fighting against pro-Koga, not for honestness or faithfulness but for their own gains, and the whole country was thrown into the Warring States Period, when the vacancy was filled with fightings.

     The temple burned down in the Battle of Konodai in 1538 and 1569.  It was in 1653 that Priest Ryukei (?-1689) revived the temple.  In 1651, Tokugawa Ietsuna (1641-1680) succeeded to the shogunate and switched the shogunate policy to a kind of the civilian control by samurai.  Rather, samurai became civil officers and officials.

Address: 5 Chome-5-2 Takasago, Katsushika, Tokyo 125-0054

Phone: 03-3607-3569