Virtual Ueno Oji Komagome 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Chudai-ji Temple

     Chudai-ji Temple was founded by Priest Shonen (?-1554) at Tabata sometime between 1532 and 1555.  In its Kannon-do Hall, a statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was enshrined.

     By its temple gate, there is a stone monument which tells that Chudai-ji Temple was chosen as a copy of the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Mimuroto-ji Temple and which was dated 1777.

     Prince Shirakabe (709-782) was wondering what was the source of golden holy beams which reached the depth of the palace every night.  He ordered Fujiwara Inukai to identify the source.  Inukai followed the beams and arrived at the upper stream of the Shizu River, one of the tributary streams of the Uji River.  He thought he saw a 6-meter-tall thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue in a basin of a waterfall.  He dived into water and found a petal of a lotus flower.  It changed into a 36-centimeter-tall 2-armed Avalokitesvara statue, which could have been an Arya Avalokitesvara statue.  Inukai brought the statue back to the prince, who founded Mimuroto-ji Temple to enshrine the statue.  Prince Shirakabe later became Emperor Amatsumunetakatsugi, and his son, Emperor Kanmu (737-806), built a 6-meter-tall 2-armed Avalokitesvara statue and enshrined the original 36-centimeter-tall one in it.  Although the statues both had only 2 arms, they were called a Sahasrabhuja statue.

     The organizers of the Ueno Oji Komagome 33 Kannon Pilgrimage might have sensed a certain resemblance between the Avalokitesvara statue in Chudai-ji Temple and that in Mimuroto-ji Temple.

     Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571) beat Uesugi Tomooki (1488-1537) along the Tama River, which ran in the southern part of Musashi Province, in 1530.  Ujiyasu advanced northward and captured Kawagoe Castle, which was located in the middle part of Musashi Province, in 1537.  He also advanced eastward and beat Ashikaga Yoshiaki (?-1538), an Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, and the Satomi Clan in Konodai, Shimousa Province, in 1538.  However, Kawagoe Castle was surrounded by a 80,000-strong force of Ashikaga Haruuji (1508-1560), a Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun, Uesugi Norimasa (1523-1579), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate and the head of the Ymanouchi-Uesugi Family, and Uesugi Tomosada (1525-1546), the head of Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family, in 1545.  The lord of the castle, Hojo Tsunashige (1515-1587), held the castle with his 3,000-strong garrison for half a year.  Ujiyasu finally arrived near the castle with his 8,000-strong reinforcements, but was inferior in number to the allied forces.  He, however, pretended to make peace, communicated with Tunashige, and made a night raid on April 20.  Ujiyasu stormed into the camps of the Uesugi Families with his 6,000-strong force at midnight and killed Tomosada.  Norimasa narrowly fled to his base, Hirai Castle in Kozuke Province.  Seizing the opportunity, Tsunashige attacked the camp of Yoshiaki, who retreated to Koga.  Ujiyasu and Tsunashige killed more than 13,000 in one night.

     Ujiyasu's military success, however, brought his finances in critical condition, and imposed heavy burden on his people.  In 1549, a great earthquake hit the Kanto Region, and many peasants in his domain gave up their fields and abandoned their villages.  Ujiyasu had to reduce taxes.

     Chudai-ji Temple was founded in these years.  It is unknown it was built whether to pray the comfort of those who were killed in battle or to ease peasants.

     Ujiyasu seized Hirai Castle in 1551, and Norimasa escaped to Echigo Province in 1552, counting on Nagao Kagetora (1530-1578).

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