Virtual Old Kasai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Joko-ji Temple

     Fujiwara Masashige was a manager of the Adachi Manor.  He didn't have a child and prayed to Kumano God for one.  One night, he had a holy dream and had a girl, Adachihime.  She was married to Toshima Kiyomoto, who was the ruler of Toshima County.  Kiyomoto had 3 sons, Aritsune, Kiyoyasu, and Kiyoshige (1161-1238), who later called himself Kasai Kiyoshige and who became a samurai manager of Mutsu Province under the Kamakura Shogunate.

     Kiyoshige was given birth by Chichibu Shigehiro's daughter.   Aritsune and Kiyoyasu's mother was unrecorded.  Shigehiro seemed to be shrewd.  His sons started the Hatakeyama and Oyamada Families, and his daughter was married to Chiba Tsunetane (1118-1201).  The Hatakeyama, Oyamada, and Chiba Families were all important and significant samurai under the Kamakura Shogunate.

     What happened to Adachihime then?  Her relationship with her parents-in-law, Yasuie and his wife, became strained.  It is unknown whether it was the Toshima Family or the Chichibu Family who took the lead, but the Toshima Family dumped a daughter of their subordinate and replaced her with the one of the powerful family.

     Adachihime threw herself into the Ara River on her way back to her parents' home with her 12 maids.

Masashige had no guts to fight against his suppeior, became a monk, and visited sacred places in provinces.  When he visited Kumano, he had a holy dream and found a radiating tree.  He wrote his name on it and floated it in the sea.  When he came back to Adachi, he found the tree washed ashore there.  He followed the holy dream and waited for Gyoki (668-749) to come.  Gyoki came and heard the whole story from Masashige.  Gyoki went on a fast, and carved 6 statues of Amitabha out of the tree.  He built 6 temples, Saifuku-ji, Emyo-ji, Muryo-ji, Yoraku-ji, Joraku-ji, and Joko-ji Temples, at where Adachihime and her maidens had been born, and prayed for their comfort in the other world.  He also carved a Avalokitesvara statue out of the remaining wood and enshrined it in Shoo-ji Temple.

     Wait, wait, wait!  Something is inconsistent.  How can Gyoki and others live in the same period?  Scientifically speaking, the statues are supposed to have been carved at the end of the Heian Period, so Gyoki's part of the story was made up later in the latter half of the Edo Period, when Adachihime's story became popular.

     The tree's part of the story reminds me of the one of Kanesawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Senzo-in Temple, which was founded by Priest Chikaku (?-1199) in November, 1192.  That is:

     There used to be 4 Shugendo practice halls in Kamakura: Senzo-in at Yamasaki, Gongen-do in Kamegaya, Aizen-bo and Zoken-do in Nikaido. 

     Minamoto Yoritomo asked Priest Chikaku of Senzo-in to visit Kumano to pray for the gods there to help Yoritomo govern the country and people.  The priest stayed in Kumano for 21 days, and got the Three Buddhist Images of Amitabha, which had Amitabha in the center, Avalokitesvara on the left, and Mahasthamaprapta on the right, one of the most popular styles of main deities in temples in Japan, and 3 other souvenirs: (1) a talisman of Gozu Tenno (literally "Ox-Headed Heavenly King"), who was a syncretic Japanese deity of disease and healing, (2) 2 guidepost stones, and (3) 2 Asian bayberries, a holy plant in the Kumano Sanzan shrine complex in Kii Province, which comprised Kumano Hayatama Taisha, Kumano Hongu Taisha, and Kumano Nachi Taisha.

     Strangely enough, Chikaku put those souvenirs on a boat made of a camphor tree, and floated them out of Kumano.  After 15 days, mysteriously enough, they arrived at the Nakahara Beach in Kuraki County, Musashi Province, which was located on the other side of the Miura Peninsula.

Joko-ji Temple was revived(?) by Priest Shoan (?-1544).

In those days, Uesugi Tomosada (1525-1546) was fighting against the Later Hojo Clan in Musashi Province.  In 1537, he lost Kawagoe Castle to Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541). In 1541, he made peace with Uesugi Norimasa (1523-1579), the head of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi Family.  The 2 families had fought against each other for years.  However, Tomosada lost to Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571), was killed in battle on April 20th, 1546, and became the last head of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family.

It is unknown which side the precincts belonged to, but the area was in a frontline between the Later Hojo and Uesugi Clans.

Address: 4 Chome−48−3 Kameido, Koto Ward, Tokyo 136-0071

Phone: 03-3681-7023