Trees In the Town

Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Saifuku-ji Temple

 

     Kukai (774-835) was said to have founded Saifuku-ji Temple sometime between 810 and 824 to pray for the protection of the state.  It is unknown when its Kannon-do Hall was built, but it was recorded that the hall was rebuilt in 1690 by Priest Kyoin (?-1710).  The hall enshrines a statue of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.  The inside of the statue has 99 miniature Avalokiteshvara statues which copied those of Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage.  As you pray to the Cintamanicakra statue, you can get as much grace as you go on all the 3 pilgrimages.  It is, however, unknown the Cintamanicakra statue itself copied which statue of which temple of which pilgrimage.  The Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage has 5 Cintamanicakra statues and the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage has 2.

     Today, the bigger copies of the other 99 statues are displayed in the hall too so that visitors can believe that they really pray to all the 100 Avalokiteshvara statues.

Address: 420 Nishitateno, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0813

Phone: 048-296-3931

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Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Entsu-ji Temple

     Priest Bansho (?-1674), who was the 26th head priest of Eihei-ji Temple, first founded Ketsuden-ji Temple for Sakai Tadakatsu (1587-1662), who was one of the prime ministers at the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and then founded Entsu-ji Temple for Kaneko Sataro.

     Then, the question is who Sataro was.  He must have been an important person, at least privately for Tadakatsu.

     All we know today is, however, Kaneko is the 13th most popular family name in Saitama Prefecture.

Address: 3 Chome-9-39 Akai, Kawaguchi, Saitama 334-0073

Phone: 048-281-1705

Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Fumon-ji Temple

     Fumon-ji Temple was founded in Hasunuma Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  It is unknown when it was founded, but the precincts have a itabi dated 1267, when Hojo Masamura (1205-1273) was the Regent of the Kamakura Shogunate and was the practical ruler of Japan.

     Prince Munetaka (1242–1274) was the sixth Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, and reigned from 1252 to 1266.  On August 22nd, 1266, Munetaka was deposed and sent back to Kyoto.  Hojo Noritoki (1235-1272) was against the deposition and held a demonstration of tens of cavalry.  The builder of the itabi died when infighting among the Hojo Clan got violent.  In February 1272, Hojo Tokimune (1251-1284), the next Regent, killed Noritoki, and Hojo Yoshimune (1253-1277) killed Hojo Tokisuke (1248-1272).

Address: 1 Chome-12-27 Honbasu, Kawaguchi, Saitama 334-0076

Phone: 048-281-2210

Osaka 33 Kannon Pilgrimage in My Order (5)

#31 Daifuku-in Temple

     Please, guide me. Let me die in peace. Thus, we hang 5-colored strings' one end to the hand of a Buddhist image and grip the other end. One of the 5 colors is white, and the place name Shiraga (White Hair) has that white color in it. Visiting Kannon-do Hall in Shiraga-cho can surely be answered. In addition to that, the main deity of the hall is an eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statue which was carved by Kasuga, a legendary Buddhist sculptor, out of the same wood of the main deity of Hase-dera Temple by Kasuga. How rewarding visiting the hall with the statue could be! 

     There used to be Shiraga-cho in today's Shinmachi, Nishi Ward, Osaka. Even today, there is a stone monument which was built where there used to be Shiraga Bridge (3 Chome-6 Shinmachi, Nishi Ward, Osaka, 550-0013). In ancient times, the ships from Silla were anchored along a sand cape in the area. The cape was called Shiraga-saki. It means Silla's Cape since the Japanese phrase "ga" indicates possessive. Years passed, the origin of the place name was forgotten, people were confused, and the Silla's Cape came to be pronounced Shirasuzaki, which literally meant White Sand Dune Cape, and which sounds very common as a place name.

     There used to be an eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statue enshrined in Mt. Hiei. One night, the statue said to Monk Ikkaku, "I have a destined place along the seashore in the south-west. I'd like to go there and benefit people there." Ikkaku arrived at Shirasuzaki, realized it the destined place for the statue, and built a hermitage there to enshrine the statue.

     Daifuku-in Temple used to stand on the north bank of Amida-ike Pond (3 Chome-3 Kitahorie, Nishi Ward, Osaka, 550-0014), and kept the hall.

     Sato Norikiyo (1118-1190), whose pen name was Saigyo, composed a poem: 

In the Naniwa tideland,

When the tide is on the ebb,

I go to Shirasuzaki to to gather shellfish.

     It is unknown when the hermitage became Daifuku-in Temple, but it was abolished after the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868 and the statue was moved to Ensho-ji Temple in 2 Chome Shitaderamachi, Tennoji Ward. Ensho-ji Temple was abolished too, and the statue's whereabouts are unknown. Did it find another destiny or destination?

     I found several car dealers and other shops including a hotel along Shitaderamachi. Ensho-ji Temple might have become one of them.

Trees In the Town

Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Jisso-in Temple

 

     Gyoki (668-749) visited Yokonuma Pond sometime between 729 and 749.  He found a holy wood in the pond, picked it up, carved a statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, founded a temple, and enshrined the statue in the temple.

     On their way to Mutsu Province to suppress Abe Sadato (1019-1062), Minamoto Yoriyoshi (988-1075) and his son, Yoshiie (1039-1106), stayed at Ogen-ji Temple in Iko, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  They prayed to the Arya Avalokitesvara statue in Jisso-in Temple for their victory.  On their way back to Kyoto after the victory, they presented 13 acres of farmland to Jisso-in Temple.  Fujiwara Narizane gave a lot of money to build magnificent temple buildings.  Narizane was the governor of Musashi Province from 1095 to 1102.

     The buildings burned down in 1264.  The temple was revived by Priest Ryosei in 1275, but its buildings were destroyed in the 1855 Edo Earthquake.  In 1889, the temple was rebuilt.

Address: 4 Chome−15−11 Iko, Adachi Ward, Tokyo 121-0823

Phone: 03-3899-2328

Trees In the Town

The Road to a Sakai Shogunate ---The Awakening and Rise of the Miyoshi Family (7)---

 

     Let's get back to the Miyoshi Family.  Seesaw battles went on between the 2 camps, yet Yukinaga gradually lagged behind.  On August 27th, 1509, Yukinaga's 2 elder sons, Nagahide and Yorizumi, were cornered and committed suicxide.  On May 11th, 1520, Yukinaga and his 2 younger sons were killed.  Yukinaga was succeeded by Nagahide's eldest son, Motonaga (1501-1532).  On June 10th, 1520, Sumimoto died, and was succeeded by his first son, Harumoto (1514-1563).

     Motonaga learned a lesson from what Yoshioki achieved and what his grandfather, Yukinaga, couldn't achieve.  When you carry a portable shrine on your shoulders, the more beneficial the better.  The Shogun is more beneficial to carry than the head of the Keicho-Hosokawa Family.

     Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531) replaced Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466-1523) with the son of Ashikaga Yoshizumi (1480-1511), Yoshiharu (1511-1550), in 1521.  Takakuni was in his heyday.  Lights, however, are usually followed by shadows.  In July, 1526, Hosokawa Tadakata (?-1531), Takakuni’s cousin, fabricated the secret communication between Takakuni’s vassal, Kozai Motomori (?-1526), and Hosokawa Harumoto.  It wasn’t recorded what intention Tadakata had.  Motomori was said to be uncultured and uneducated.  Anyway, Takakuni just flew into a fury and had Motomori assassinated.  Motomori’s brothers, Hatano Motokiyo (?-1530) and Yanagimoto Kataharu (?-1530), got furious in turn.  They rebelled against Takakuni in their homeland, Tamba Province.  Motokiyo shut himself up in Yakami Castle and Kataharu in Kannosan Castle.  Takakuni was astonished and ordered Tadakata to siege Kannosan Castle.  He also dispatched Kawarabayashi Shurinosuke and Ikeda Danjo to Yakami Castle on October 23rd.  There were some skirmishes for several days.  On November 5th, Naito Kunisada (?-1553), the lord of Yagi Castle,who was sympathetic toward the brothers, withdrew from the encirclement of Kannosan Castle.  On November 30th, Akai Goro, the lord of Kuroi Castle, attacked the besiegement of Kannosan Castle and broke it.  Takakuni’s army raised the siege of the castles.  On their way back, Shurinosuke and Danjo had infighting.  Tadataka just ran away.  Takakuni’s rule exposed its vulnerability in half a year.

Trees In the Town

Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Rendai-ji Temple

     There were natural levees along the Old Tone River.  The Shimozuma Road weaved its way through the levees.  In one of them, good persimmon trees grew and travelers took a rest, eating the fruits.  The levee was called Kakinoki.

     It is unknown when Rendai-ji Temple was founded in Kakinoki Village.  For some reason, villagers built another hermitage in the village.  After the original Rendai-ji Temple became out of business, they moved its name to their hermitage, which is today's Rendai-ji Temple.

     Its precincts have a Kannon-do Hall.  The New Chorography on Musashi Province, which was compiled by Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) at the beginning of the 19th century, tells us the hall enshrines an Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, while others say it enshrines an eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statue.

     #13 Kosho-in Temple's deity, a statue of Cundi, who has 16 arms and appears to be female, was brought there by some members of the Toyoda Family, who were vassals of the Takagi Family. 

     Almost a millennium ago, the Boso Peninsula was still almost an island, and most part of the Kanto Plain was marshland. Between the Musashi Plateau and the Boso Peninsula, there ran Tone and Watarase Rivers, meeting and branching one another here and there from time to time, into Edo Bay.  In the eastern part of the marshland, there flowed the Kinu River into the Katori Sea, forming a large flood plain.  The watershed between the 2 parts of the marshland was so low that they used to be connected to each other through a wetland or a river.  Let me call the 2 parts the Tone-Watarase River System and the Kinu River System.

     The Takagi Family used to be based in Negiuchi Castle.  When their master, the Hara Family, lost Oyumi Castle to Ashikaga Yoshiaki (?-1538), who became an Oyumi-Kanto Deputy Shogun based in Oyumi Castle, Takagi Taneyoshi (1501-1565) moved his base from Negiuchi Castle to Kogane Castle, which commanded estuary of Tone-Watarase River System.  Taneyoshi tried to control the inland waterway between Edo Bay and the northern part of the Kanto Region.  To control the inland waterway, he set his eyes on the Kinu River System too.  In the process, Toyoda Haruchika became subject to Taneyoshi.  The relationship of the 2 families was so strong that, even after the collapse of the Takagi Family in 1590, Haruchika's offspring  prayed for the comfort of Taneyoshi in the other world in Rendai-ji Temple. 

     Who were the Toyoda Family?

     The Toyoda Family  was hereditary guardian samurai of Toyoda County, Shimousa Province, and built Ishige Castle along the Kinu River, which ran into the Katori Sea.

     Meanwhile, Satake Yoshishige (1547-1612), whose family had been based in the Northern part of Hitachi Province, advanced to the southern part, almost unified the province, and was expanding his territory further.  It means Yoshishige was trying to control the Kinu River System with Tagaya Masatsune (?-1576) as his vassal.

     The Toyoda Family was based in Toyoda Castle (Address: 1303 Mototoyoda, Joso, Ibaraki 300-2711) and the Tagaya Family was based in Shimozuma Castle.  The two castles were just 8 kilometers away from each other along the Kinu River.  The Toyoda and Tagaya Families were in the forefront of the struggle between the Takagi and Satake Families.

     Who were the Tagaya Family?

     In ancient times, there used to be the Musashi Seven Corps.  The most part of Musashi Province was plateaus deeply covered with volcanic-ash soil, which was suitable for stock farming, not for rice growing.  In ancient times, many of the naturalized Silla people then were sent to Musashi Province, and engaged in the stock farming.  That stimulated people there, and many stock farms were set up, including 6 imperial stock farms.  The custodians of those farms later formed small-scale would-be-samurai families.  By marriage, those would-be-samurai families composed 7 corps on the Musashi Plateaus.  The Noyo Corp was one of them.

     The Tagaya Family belonged to the Noyo Corp, and became subject to the Yuki Family.

     Tawara Tota (891-958) was an official of the Shimotsuke Provincial Government.  He was from Tawara Village, Kawachi County, Shimotsuke Province.

     In 939, Taira Masakado (?-940) tried to be independent from Japan in the Kanto Region.  Tota suppressed Masakado’s revolt, and was promoted to be the governor of Shimotsuke and Musashi Provinces.  Tota’s 1st son, Chitsune (?-1012) lived in Oyama, Tsuga County, Shimotsuke Province, and ruled the area. One of his offspring, Tomomitsu (1168-1254), moved to Yuki County, Shimousa Province, and called his family Yuki.

     Tagaya Shigemasa (?-1566) changed his master from the Yuki Family to the Satake Family in Hitachi Province, in which the Kinu River ran and the Katori Sea lay.  In 1571, Shigemasa's son, Masatsune (?-1576), captured Yatabe Fortress, which was located between Shimozuma Castle and the Katori Sea.  The occupation enabled him to attack Toyoda Castle on both flanks.  

     Toyoda Haruchika (?-1575) was devotedly religious.  He not only believed in the goddess in Mt. Tsukuba and Avalokitesvara as most locals did, but also had faith in Raiden Shrine in Oharagi County, Kozuke Province, which was located in the Tone-Watarase River System.  He visited the shrine annually.  While he was visiting the shrine in 1575, Masatsune made surprise attacks both on Haruchika's party and on Toyoda Castle. 

     Haruchika was killed and Toyoda Castle fell.  Haruchika's wife and 2 children fled to Kakinoki Village, where their relatives lived, with some vassals and peasants.  They invited the goddess of Mt. Tsukuba and built the Nyotai Shrine.

     There were natural levees along the Old Tone River.  The Shimozuma Road weaved its way through the levees.  In one of them, good persimmon trees grew and travelers took a rest, eating the fruits.  The levee was called Kakinoki, namely Presimmon Tree.

     Between Kakinoki and Senbiki Villages, there were 12 mounds under which the war dead were buried.

     Kakinoki Village had Juusan-do Hall, which enshrined a Buddhist image Haruchika's wife brought from Toyoda Castle, and the Toyoda Family's graveyard.  Inscriptions on most gravestones were unreadable, but one of them was the grave of the 26th head of the family.

     When Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) hunted down and killed Yoshinaka (1154-1184), the Toyoda Family dispatched their family member, who stayed in Kakinoki on their way back and who finally settled there.

     The Toyoda Family's relatives might have called themselves Kakinoki. In a battle in January, 1521, Kakinoki Shozen was recorded to have fought.  The Kakinoki Family spread to the surrounding area: Oi, Miyoshi, Hatoyama, Asaka, Niiza, Hatogaya, Omiya, Yashio, Soka, Satte, Koshigaya, Kodama, and more.  They developed their own villages.  Ozone Village was one of them.  For some reason, Rendai-ji Temple was moved to Ozone Village later.  Presumably, the Old Tone River flooded.

     Toyoda Sentaro was the head of the family in the Meiji Period.  His properties had a mound which was 4-meter tall and 60 square meters, from which a decorated hexagonal cylinder with a sutra in it and a knife were excavated and which were supposed to have been buried in the 15th century, before the arrival of Haruchika's wife and children.

     Another modern Toyoda Castle was reconstructed to enhance tourism about 1.5 kilometers Northeast (Address: 2011 Shinishige, Joso, Ibaraki 300-2706).

Address: 343 Ozone, Yashio, Saitama 340-0834

Osaka 33 Kannon Pilgrimage in My Order (4)

 

Before the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, the #32 and #33 deities of the Osaka 33 Kannon Pilgrimage used to be enshrined in Namba and Goryo Shrines respectively.  Although I have visited #32 Zenryu-ji and #33 Saisho-ji Temples already, they didn't have stone monuments to tell their membership of the Osaka 33 Kannon Pilgrimage. Guessing the 2 shirines might have the monuments, I walked out of Shinsaibashi Station along the Osaka Metro Midosuji Line. I strolled along Midosuji Street north for a couple of blocks, and found Namba Shrine on my left. I have driven along the street countless times, noticing the shrine, but this was my first visit to it. There it was. The stone monument was in front of the shrine gate. The precincts were surprisingly quiet despite its being along one of the busiest streets in Osaka.

#32 Namba Shrine

     The main deity is Emperor Osazaki, who is speculated to have reigned at the turn of the 5th century.  He relocated the capital to Namba, and built the Kozu Palace.  It was the first capital outside Yamato Orovince.  He was known for exempting farmers from taxes for 3 years and for his lechery.  The shrine was founded in Today's Matsubara City first when his 3rd son, Emperor Mitsuhawake reigned.  It was moved to today's Uehonmachi, Tennoji Ward, Osaka, in 943.  It was moved again to its present place by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1597.

     The shrine used to enshrine a thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue.  Although it is unknown when the statue was enshrined in the shrine, that could have been after the 9th century, when it came to be gradually believed that Indian Budhhist deities had appeared as native gods in Japan to be more easily accepted by the Japanese people.  The donor might have considered Sahasrabhuja to be a suitable Indian Budhhist deity for Osazaki, who tried to relieve farmers, as Sahasrabhuja came to have 1,000 arms to relieve people.  The statue was moved to Zenryu-ji Temple presumably after the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868.

     I stepped out of Namba Shrine west from its back gate. I walked through checkered streets, turning corners at random. At the corner of Naniwasuji Street and Utsubo Park, I found Kusunaga Shrine, which is located just across the plaza from the Utsubo Tennis Center Court, which I have visited several times, without noticing the shrine.  Or in one eye and out of the other?

Kusunaga Shrine

     After the Tsubura Shrine, or today's Goryo Shrine, moved to its present place, there was no shrine.  Later, the Seafood Market in Kitahama was moved.  They dug the Kaifu Canal and built the Eitai Port around where there had been Tsubura Shrine.  As dealers of salted and dried fish lived around there, it might have been they who renamed the area Utsubo, a moray eel.  There already were 2 camphor trees in those days, which are now holy trees of Kusunaga Shrine.  In December, 1928, when they were repairing the stone walls along the canal, a white snake came out of the root of the trees.  Japanese people used to regard white snakes as messengers of gods, and the locals built a small shrine for the snake.  As there were camphor (Kusu in Japanese) trees and Eitai Port (Ei is pronounced Naga in the native Japanese style reading of the kanji), the shrine was named Kusunaga.  It is unknown whether the white snake still resides there or not.

     After Kusunaga Shrine, I rambled through Utsubo Park.  I found its old center court remodeled into a garden which utilizes its stands as a slope to run a stream.  I thought I saw Goryo Shrine, but I didn't know where its main gate was.  This time, I entered through its back gate, which was no more than a kitchen door.

#33 Goryo Shrine

     Emperors of Japan have celebrated a harvest ritual annually presumably since the 10th to the 3rd Centuries BC.  Empress Takara (594-661) is said to have fixed the ritual procedure.  Emperor Oama (?-686) performed a special large-scale ceremonial offering of rice as a part of his enthronement ceremony in 673.  Since then, newly enthroned Emperors have performed special ceremonial offerings of rice.  Emperor Montoku (827-858) first performed the Yasoshima Ceremony one year after his enthronement in 850 at the Tsubura Inlet along today's Osaka Bay.  The inlet is supposed to have been located near today's Utsubo Kusunaga Shrine (Address: 2 Chome-1 Utsubohonmachi, Nishi Ward, Osaka, 550-0004).  The ceremony site was called Tsubura Shinshi, literally Tsubura God Small-Shrine.  As the ceremony was repeatedly performed by newly enthroned Emperors, the site came to be called Tsubura Shrine, and the area came to be called Tsumura.

     Kamei Korenori (1557-1612) was born in Yatsuka County, Izumo Province, as a son of a vassal of the Amako Clan, which was destroyed by Mori Motonari (1497-1571) in 1566.  He met the remnants of the Amako Clan in Kyoto in 1568.  In 1573, he actually joined fighting for the remnant.  When Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) started attacking the Mori Clan, the remnants became subject to Nobunaga, and Korenori fought for Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582), a vassal of Nobunaga, in Tamba Province.  For some reason, he was posted to Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), another vassal of Nobunaga, in 1581.  When Korenari was fighting for Hideyoshi in Inaba Province, all of a sudden, Mitsuhide killed Nobunaga in 1582.  Mitsuhide, however, was killed by Hideyoshi soon after.  Luckily, Korenori survived.  In 1594, Korenori invited Tsubura Shrine to part of his residence, which was located in the present place of Goryo Shrine.  As he respected Kamakura Kagemasa (1069-?), he enshrined Kagemasa in New Tsubura Shrine as a god.  Kagemasa answered Korenori's faith.  After Hideyoshi's death, Korenori transferred to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).  He successfully survived the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and the Siege of Osaka in 1614 and 1615.  He became the first lord of the Shikano Domain in Inaba Province, which was just east of Izumo Province.  He made a glorious return to his hometown.

     Osaka people were surprised with Korenori's success or Kagemasa's grace, and they commonly called Tsubura Shrine Goro-no-miya Shrine in the Edo Period as Kagemasa's nickname was Gongoro.  Hojo-ji Temple was built in the southern part of its precincts as its shrine temple, with an eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statue as its main deity.  The shrine officially changed its name to Goryo Shrine in the 1660's.  After the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order was issued by the Meiji Restoration Government in 1868, the Goryo Shrine and Hojo-in Temple were divided.  The temple was abolished later, and the Ekadasamukha statue was moved to Saisho-ji Temple.  The precincts of the temple became a modern building with a shrine gate in front of it as a trace of the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism.

#32 Namba Shrine

Address: 4 Chome-1-3 Bakuromachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 541-0059

Phone: 06-6251-8000

Kusunaga Shrine

Address: 2 Chome-1 Utsubohonmachi, Nishi Ward, Osaka, 550-0004

#33 Goryo Shrine

Address: 4 Chome-4-3 Awajimachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 541-0047

Phone: 06-6231-5041

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Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Kannon-do Hall of Seisho-in Temple

 

     Seisho-in Temple is located along the Naka River, which used to be the Old Tone River.

     When the estuary of the Old Tone River was developed, huts for laborers were built for about10 kilometers along the street which was later called Shimozuma Road and which had been used when Minamoto Yoriyoshi (985-1078) and his son, Yoshiie (1039-1106), sent their troops to Mutsu Province to suppress the Abe and Kiyohara Clans there in ancient times.  At the northern end, a Buddhist hermitage was built.  In 1489, Priest Shuko changed it to a temple and named it Saisho-ji, namely the Best Temple.

     One day, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) visited the temple and heard about the development.  As he knew Tofuku-ji (namely East Fortune Temple) had been founded when its surrounding area was developed in Shimousa Province, he renamed Saisho-in with the other Chinese character, namely West Good Temple.

     In 1907, Saisho-in Temple merged with Seizo-in Temple, namely Clean Warehouse Temple, and renamed itself again Seisho-ji, namely Clean Good Temple.  A farmer, Gozaemon, had built a hermitage, which later became Seizo-in Temple.

Address: 1763 Hachijo, Yashio, Saitama 340-0801

Phone: 048-997-8388

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Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Hoto-ji Temple

 

     Hoto-ji Temple, which enshrines a statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was founded by Priest Yukei (?-1534).  Later, the god of Hisaizu Shrine, which is now called Kami-Hisaizu Shrine, was invited to the temple.  The god is now enshrined in Shimo-Hisaizu Shrine, which is located next to the temple.  Presumably, the population of on a natural levee, where Tsurugasone Village was located, increased, the village was divided into 2, and a new temple and a new shrine were founded in a newer village.  The god of Hisaizu Shrine was believed to be one of "kunitsukami" (gods of the earth or gods of country builders).  Ancient people might have been filled with awe at seeing new land being formed in the estuary of the Old Tone River.

     The existence of the Tsurugasone Checkpoint was recorded in 1387, and many itabi, which were dated around the 1310's, have been excavated in the area.  Some samurai might have ruled the area to impose taxes on river transportation.

Address: 1819 Tsurugasone, Yashio, Saitama 340-0802

Phone: 048-996-4473

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Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #19 Fumon-ji Temple

 

     Fumon-ji Temple was founded in Kizone Village, Musashi Province, sometime between 1558 and 1569 by Priest Daiun (?-1598), supported by Seigen (?-1608).

     In 1568, Takeda Shingen invaded Suruga Province, and then invaded Musashi Province the next year.  Fumon-ji Temple was founded in a time when people fought battle after battle.  In 1571, the lord of Sagami and Musashi Provinces, Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571) died.

     Kizone was one of the place names which contained "sone" in themselves, although "sone" pronounced "zone" due to euphony in the Japanese language.  "Sone" meant a natural levee, so the village must have been built on one of natural levees along the Old Tone River.  

     After the river system improvement of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Tone River ran east directly to the Pacific Ocean, and the Old Tone River became the Naka River in the area of the Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  In 1984, the Naka River was further improved to control its floods, and Fumon-ji Temple moved to its present place when Giketsu was its 27th priest.

Address: 440 Minamikawasaki, Yashio, Saitama 340-0814

Phone: 048-996-1331

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Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Jinbe's Residence

 

     Jinbe's Residence had a Kannon-do Hall, which enshrined a statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  The statue, which is dated 1727, has the information about the Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 and #19.  Why was the statue made 30 years after the organization of the pilgrimage?

     Anyway, Jinbe's offspring run a cleaning company and preserve the statue.

Nakayama Cleaning Co. Ltd.

Address: 410 Minamikawasaki, Yashio, Saitama 340-0814

Phone: 048-996-9728

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Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Tarozaemon's Residence, known as Oze-Kannon-do Hall

 

     The #17 deity of the Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was enshrined in the premises of a farmer, Tarozaemon.  It is unknown why a private Buddhist image was listed in the pilgrimage.

Address: 981-2 Oze, Yashio, Saitama 340-0822

Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Ampuku-ji Temple

     It is unknown when Ampuku-ji Temple was founded, but a land register of Iizuka Village in July, 1622, listed the temple.  It was no more than a hermitage, but Priest Ryuen (?-1688) changed it to a real temple.

    In 1668, Sekiguchi Jizaemon, the head of Iizuka Village, and Kihe, a farmer, dug out a bronze "kakebotoke" at the root of a row of pine trees.  They built a hermitage and enshrined the "kakebotoke" Avalokitesvara image in it.  They also invited Priest Shasei of Ampuku-ji Temple and held a Buddhist service to exhibit the image in 1700.

     The image came to be called Yugao Avalokitesvara for some reason and became very popular among Edo citizens.  The hermitage was even listed in Edo Meisho Zue or "the Guide to Famous Edo Sites", which was written and compiled by the 3 generations of Saito Choshu (1737-1799), Kansai (1772-1818), and Gesshin (1804-1878), and was published from 1834 to 1836.  Its whole volumes were illustrated by Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843).

     A kakebotoke was a Buddhist image on the top of a mirror.  In Shinto, a native Japanese religion, a mirror was an object of worship.  Under the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, we started engraving a petroglyph of a Buddhist image on a bronze mirror in the 10th century.  Later, those images became gorgeous and three-dimensional.  They were made till the end of the Edo Period, but many of them were discarded after the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order was issued by the Meiji Restoration Government in 1868.

Address: 1 Chome-7-19 Nishimizumoto, Katsushika City, Tokyo 125-0031

Phone: 03-3607-6800

Trees In the Town

Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Henjo-in Temple

 

     Wado-ji Temple was founded either in 708 or 710.  

     In Konodai in October, 1538, an Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, who was supported by the Satomi Clan, and a Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun, who was supported by the Later Hojo Clan, clashed against each other. The Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki (?-1538), was killed in battle, and Koga’s side won.  Yoshiaki's first son, Yoshizumi (?-1538), was also killed in battle, and Yoshiaki's younger children fled to Awa Province, counting on the protection of Satomi Yoshitaka (1507-1574).  However, the mastermind of the Koga Deputy Shogun, the Later Hojo Clan, was too powerful for the Satomi Can to shelter them.  Yoshiaki's second and third sons were sent to Sekido-ji Temple in Kazusa Province and his 3 daughters were sent to Taihei-ji Temple in Kamakura, Sagami Province.  They became under the patronage, or the supervision, of the Later Hojo Clan.

     After the battle, a young monk of Wado-ji Temple washed his fundoshi, a traditional Japanese male underwear made of a long piece of cotton cloth.  When it dried, the boy tied it on a bamboo pole, and played battle.  The Hojo Army mistook it for defeat, fleeing Satomi samurai rising up again, and burned the temple down.

     In 1572, Priest Kyoun revived the temple and renamed it Henjo-in.  It lost most documents in the flood in August, 1704, when the Sumida and Old Tone Rivers flooded and the water covered Gyotoku in Katsushika County, Shimousa Province, and Asakusa in Katsushika County, Musashi Province.  In 1654, the new eastern waterway of the Tone River had been excavated and its water ran both into the New Tone River and still into the old waterway which was renamed the Gongen River.  The Old Tone River flooded at the branch.  The flood water ran down into today's Yoshikawa and Misato Cities.  In February, 1744, those rivers flooded again.  The temple was also destroyed by fire in January, 1882.

     In 1926, many itabi, which were dated between 1304 and 1537, were dug out in the precincts.

      Henjo-in Temple enshrines a statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.

Address: 5 Chome-5-33 Mizumoto, Katsushika Ward, Tokyo 125-0032

Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Joraku-ji Temple

     Joraku-ji Temple was founded by Monk Yusen (?-1638), who was a brother of Kato Takumi, whose offspring became the head of Togasaki Village.

     Kato Takumi (?-1625), who became the head of Togasaki Village in 1590's, organized master-less job-less samurai to develop the area.  When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) visited the area in 1606 to practice falconry, Takumi served meals.  Although he was a farmer, Takumi was allowed to use his surname and wear a sword.  Ina Tadatsugu (1550-1610) exempted Takumi from paying taxes for 10 acres of fields. 

     Ina Tadatsugu (1550-1610) was born to Tadaie (1528-1607), the lord of Ojima Castle, Hazu County, Mikawa Province.  In 1563, Tadaie took part in the revolt organized by the True Pure Land Buddhism and fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Battle of Azukizaka in 1564.  The revolt was defeated, and Tadaie left Ieyasu with his family.  In 1575, when Ieyasu fought the Battle of Nagashino with Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) against Takeda Katsuyori (1546-1582), Tadaie and Tadatsugu rushed to help Ieyasu in the decisive battle.  After the battle they worked and fought for Ieyasu's son, Nobuyasu (1559-1579).  However, Nobunaga suspected Nobuyasu of having secret communication with Katsuyori, and forced Nobuyasu to commit suicide by the sword on September, 15th, 1579.  Tadaie and Tadatsugu left Mikawa Province and lived in Sakai, Izumi Province, counting on Tadaie's elder brother, Sadakichi, who had left Mikawa Province soon after the Battle of Azukizaka and who had quitted being a samurai.

     Nobunaga, however, was killed in Honno-ji Temple by his vassal, Akechi Mitsuhide (1516-1582), on June 2nd, 1582, unluckily for Ieyasu, who was going sightseeing in Sakai and who ran about in confusion trying to get away from Sakai to Mikawa Province.  Tadatsugu helped Ieyasu escape through Yamato, Iga, and Ise Provinces to Mikawa Province, crossing the Ise Bay, instead of directly sailing back to Mikawa, which had a possibility of being attacked by pirates off Kumano.

     After they returned to Mikawa Province, Tadaie worked and fought for Nobunaga's second son, Nobuo (1558-1630), and Tadatsugu for Ieyasu.  After Nobuo was sent into banishment, Tadaie depended on Tadatsugu.  Tadatsugu, in wartime, operated sending military provisions and maintaining their routes for large armies.  After Ieyasu moved to the Kanto Region in 1590, Tadatsugu managed river improvements, farm development, and land surveys.  The river improvements included changing the waterways of the Old Tone and Ara Rivers.  The Bizen Flumes and Bizen Levees in the Kanto Region were named after his post name.  He also taught farmers how to grow mulberry trees, hemp, and paper mulberries, and encouraged them in charcoal making, silk producing, and salt manufacturing.  Ina in Adachi County, Musashi Province, was named so after him.

     In 1601, Tadatsugu’s son, Tadaharu (1606-1653) ordered Mitsugon-in Temple to pray for the success of developing rice fields in the area.  To save Edo from floods, Tadaharu first dammed up the Aino River, a bypass river of the Old Tone River, in 1594, to keep the water of the Old Tone River away from Edo.  In 1621, he finished digging a canal to make the Old Tone River flow into the Old Watarase River for the same purpose, and the lower stream of the Old Tone River became the Sumida River.  He also started separating the Kinu and Kobai Rivers in their middle streams.  In 1629, he dammed the Ara River and made its water flow into the Iruma River.  The New Kinu River started running in the same year.  In 1630, the New Kobai River started running.  In 1635, he started building the  Edo River to make it the main stream in the estuary of the Ara, Old Tone, and Old Watarase Rivers, and finished it in 1641.  Do you follow what I have said?  I wonder how many people understood his ultimate end in those days.  Finally in 1654, 1 year after his death, the New Tone River ran east directly to the Pacific Ocean.  As the construction progressed, he developed rice fields in the estuary of the Ara, Old Tone, and Old Watarase Rivers, Katsushika County in short.  Later, part of the area even became the downtown of Edo.

     Joraku-ji Temple's precincts have a Kannon-do Hall which enshrines a statue of thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja.

     Tradition says the statue was made by Jocho (?-1057), who was a Japanese sculptor of the Heian Period (794-1185).  He established the technique of sculpting a single Buddhist image out of many pieces of wood.

Address: 2201 Togasaki, Misato, Saitama 341-0044

Phone: 048-955-0015