Virtual Old Kasai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Fugen-ji Temple

     Fugenji- Temple was founded as a shrine temple of the Papiyas Shrine in Nakanogo Village near Umaya-bashi Bridge along Sumida River in 1469 by Priest Ryoen.  Papiyas was the devil king of the sixth heaven in the world of desire in Buddhism.

     In 1454, the Kyotoku War broke out, and lasted for 28 years till 1482.  During the war, Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438-1497), the Kanto Deputy Shogun, relinquished Kamakura and moved to Koga in 1457.  In 1458, the Muromachi Shogunate in Kyoto sent out another Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491), from Kyoto to Kamakura, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura and stayed in Horikoshi, Izu Province.  From then on, there were a Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun and a Horikoshi Kanto Deputy Shogun in the Kanto Region.  In 1467, the Onin War broke out in Kyoto and lasted till 1477.  The central shogunate in Kyoto wasn't able to afford to intervene in the power struggles in the Kanto Region.  It didn't ease the tensions in the region, but rather throw the whole country into the Warring States Period.  In 1469, in short, Japan might have been filled with devils.

     In the Edo Period, Densuke, a kabuki player, built a Ksitigarbha statue, and Kaiho Gyoson (1798-1866), who was a descendant of the Satomi Clan in Awa Province, and who was one of the best Confusian scholars in the Edo Period, was buried in its precincts. 

     In the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, the temple was reduced to ashes except its main deity and family death registers.  In 1924, due to a city planning, the temple moved to its present place in the suburb of Tokyo.

Address: 2 Chome−26−4 Momijigaoka, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-0004

Phone: 042-369-2278