Virtual Old Kasai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Tosho-ji Temple

     Tosho-ji Temple was founded in 1450, one year after Kanto Deputy Shogunate was revived in Kamakura by Ahikaga Shigeuji (1434-1497).

     Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the Kanto Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, was forced to commit suicide by Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394-1441), the central shogun.  His eldest son, Yoshihisa (1423-1439) also killed himself.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered 2 of Mochiuji’s younger sons, Shun'o-maru (1430-1441) and Yasuo-maru (1431-1441), in his castle, and rebelled against Yoshinori in 1440. On April 16, 1441, his castle fell and he and his son were killed in the fighting.  Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto, but, on their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, they were killed, with their death poems left:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shun'o-maru)

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

     The  youngest brother, Eijuo-maru (1438-1497), survived.  His wet nurse escaped to An'yo-ji Temple in Iwamurada, Saku County, Shinano Province.  Her brother was a priest in the temple.  Oi Mochimitsu, the lord of Oi Castle near Iwamurada, protected Eijuo-maru.  As Shinano Province was a remote area compared to Yuki Castle, which was along the Kinu River, one of the major inland waterways in the Kanto Region, Michitsuna as well as Eijuo-maru was not involved in the Kanto politics.

     In 1449, Eijuo-maru changed his name to Shigeuji and became the 5th Kanto Deputy Shogun. 

However, In April, 1450, Nagao Kagenaka (1388-1463) and Ota Sukekiyo (1411-1488) attacked Shigeuji in Kamakura.  Shigeuji narrowly escaped to the Enoshima Island neraby.  The central shogunate supported Shigeuji, and he returned to Kamakura in August, although Kagenaka and Sukekiyo were overlooked.  The Kanto Deputy Shogunate was shaken, and the Warring States Period was approaching.

     Tosho-ji Temple was merged by the Old Kasai 33 Kannon pilgrimage #8 Myoryo-in Temple after World War II.

Myoryo-in Temple

Address: 6 Chome-17-4 Tachibana, Sumida City, Tokyo 131-0043

Phone: 03-3611-5325