Virtual Musashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Tengaku-ji Temple

     Tengaku-ji Temple was founded in 1478 by Monk Gensho, who was said to have been the elder brother of Ota Sukekiyo (1411-1488).

     As it was Sukekiyo who succeeded his father, Sukefusa, Gensho might have had a reason or two not to succeed to the head of the family.

     In 1476, Nagao Kageharu (1443-1514) started his rebellion against his master, Yamanouchi-Uesugi Family, and kept fighting till 1511.  He was a pioneer of overpowering superiors in the Kanto Region.  Sukekiyo and his son, Sukenaga (1432-1468), who built Edo Castle in 1457, were busy suppressing Kageharu to defend the ancien regime.  Sukenaga became a priest in 1473 and called himself Dokan.

     As Tengaku-ji Temple was located on a slightly-elevated hill in the estuary of the Old Tone River, it was often used as a fort by the Later Hojo Clan and was given tax-free farmland.  It means Gensho contributed to the fighting of the Ota Family.  Then, why again didn’t he succeed to the head of the family?

Address: 2549 Koshigaya, Saitama 343-0024

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