Virtual Edo Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Komagata-do Temple

 

     Haji Matsuchi, Hinokuma Yamanari, and Hinokuma Tekenari were netting fishes in Miyato River (nearly Sumida River today) in 589.  Instead, they netted an Arya Avalokiteshvara statue.  They wove a small shed with wild spinach canes, and put the statue in it. Komagata-do Temple stands at the very place where the wild-spinach-cane shed was built, or woven.

     The deity in the temple isn't Arya Avalokiteshvara but is Hayagriva, who has the head of a horse.  The temple name, Komagata, literally means horse shape. The Arya Avalokiteshvara statue is enshrined in Senso-ji Temple as its main deity.  Then, where did the Hayagriva statue come from?  Of course, religiously speaking, Arya Avalokiteshvara can metamorphose into Hayagriva, but …..

     Komagata-do Temple was built by Taira Kinmasa in 942.

     In 866, the Otenmon Conspiracy broke out.

     Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-872) and his younger brother, Yoshimi (813-867), worked at central government side by side from 857, when Yoshifusa was promoted to be the Premier, and Yoshimi to the second Vice-Premier, until the Otenmon Conspiracy.

     It is very questionable and mysterious who conspired with whom against who before and during the incidents.  However, according to Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku the incident started in this way:

     On March the 10th, Oten-mon Gate went up in flames.  On the 22nd, great purification prayers were held in front of Kaisho-mon Gate, and the Great Heart Sutra was recited in Sufuku-ji Temple.  On July the 6th, an imperial delegate was sent to Ise Shrine, and oblations were offered to shrines in Nankai-do Region.

     On August the 3rd, 866, out of the blue, Oyake Taketori, who was just a substitute for the-rank-and-file officer in Bicchu Province, notified that Tomo Yoshio, the third Vice-Premier, and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.  On the 29th, a daughter of Oyake Taketori was murdered, and Ikue Tsuneyama, Tomo Yoshio’s attendant, was tortured as a suspect.  On the 30th, Tomo Kiyonawa was tortured as an instigator.  On September the 22nd, Tomo Yoshio, Tomo Nakatsune, Ki Toyoshiro, Tomo Akizane, and Tomo Kiyotsuna were convicted of arson, and sentenced to banishment.  Ki Natsui, Tomo Kawao, Tomo Natsukage, Tomo Huyumitsu, Ki Harumichi, Tomo Takayoshi, Ki Takeki, and Tomo Harunori were convicted of implication, and also sentenced to exile.  On October the 25th, Ikue Tsuneyama and Urabe Tanushi confessed to having assaulted Oyake Taketori and having killed his daughter.

     Riho Oki (Prince Shigeakira’s Diary) and Okagami Uragaki (The Collection of Notes on Okagami), however, tell us another story.  It transpired like this:

     Fujiwara Yoshimi, the Premier’s younger brother, consulted with Tomo Yoshio to oust Minamoto Makoto.  They told Fujiwara Mototsune, Fujiwara Yoshifusa’s adopted son, to come, and instructed that it was Minamoto Makoto who set Oten-mon Gate on fire.  Mototsune was surprised to hear that, and asked them if Yoshifusa knew the story, but Yoshimi answered no.  Mototsune reported the story to Yoshifusa in haste.

     Yoshifusa responded that the first Vice Premier had rendered meritorious service to the Emperor, and that it was unreasonable to be accused of the crime when it was uncertain whether the story was true, and then reported to Emperor Seiwa, “It was I who should be punished first if the first Vice Prime Minister were to be punished.”  As the Emperor did not know the story, he was greatly surprised.

     Eventually on August the 3rd, 866, Oyake Taketori noticed that Tomo Yoshio and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.

     It’s not clear who conspired with whom against who in the Otenmon Conspiracy.  In Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki’s story, pecking order No.3 and No.4 tried to oust No.2, maybe to get promoted, but failed.  Maybe, it was pecking No.2 who tried to…..  We have a few more clues:

     Fujiwara Yoshifusa, pecking order No.1, had been seriously ill from the end of the year 864 to September 865.  Fujiwara Mototsune, Yoshifusa’s adopted son, was yet to be in his thirties.  Who would be Fujiwara Clan’s leader if Yoshifusa were to die?

     At the end of the year 864, there was also a whistle-blowing that Minamoto Makoto was planning to revolt with his younger brothers, Toru and Tsutomu.  Tomo Yoshio attacked the Minamoto Clan counting on the letter.  Who on earth composed the letter?

     At the time of Otenmon Conspiracy, Oyake Taketori was working for Bicchu Province.  He had been a low-ranked officer in Wu Hyoe Fu, a kind of the office of the guards.  Minamoto Tsutomu supervised the office of the guards before he was later promoted to be the Vice-Governor in Bicchu Province in January, 866.  What a coincidence!

     In the spring of the year 866, Tomo Yoshio surrounded Minamoto Makoto’s mansion house, claiming that he was just sending messengers.

     On August the 3rd, 866, as you already know, Oyake Taketori notified Tomo Yoshio and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to Oten-mon Gate.  On the 29th, Oyake Taketori’s daughter was murdered by Ikue Tsuneyama.

     Even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who, there is an important lesson to be learned through those incidents; blood will have blood.

     Whether you believe in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, which is usually regarded to be more reliable than other documents, or in Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki, or even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who in the incidents, we can clearly see the outcomes.

     Who was the biggest winner after all the conspiratorial incidents?  Fujiwara Mototsune was.  He successfully became the Premier after Yoshifusa’s death, going over Yoshimi’s head, who had actually died before Yoshifusa’s death, though.  Yoshifusa and Mototsune opened a Fujiwara regency regime.

     Who was the biggest loser then?  The Tomo Clan were.  They were almost exterminated.  Who was the second biggest loser?  The Ki Clan were.  They were diminished.  All the other clans were minor losers, and some of them went to remote provinces including the Eastern Provinces for a new start.

     Prince Takamochi (?-911) was born as the son of Prince Kazurawara (786-853).  Takamochi was granted the court rank of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade.  On May 13, 889, Takamochi was granted the surname Taira and left the Royal Family.  In 898, Takamochi was appointed as the Vice Governor of the Kazusa Province.  He went to the province with his 3 elder sons, Yoshimochi (872-935), Yoshimasa (873-?), and Yoshikane (876-939).  Even after his retirement, he stayed in Kazusa Province with his family and became a powerful figure in the Kanto Region, privately developing vast manors.  He also realized it was profitable to rule water transportation through 2 inland seas, Edo and Katori Seas, and through rivers.  He had his sons get married with daughters of local powerful families, who lived along those inland waterways.

     Yoshikane succeeded to the Vice Governor of the Kazusa Province and led other Taira Family members who had spread to the strategic points along the inland waterways in Shimousa and Shimotsuke Provinces.  He must have realized how difficult it was to put the family members’ opinions and thoughts together when their gains and returns often conflicted with one another.  Yoshimochi advanced to Hitachi Province and was based in Makabe County along Kokai River.  Yoshimasa advanced to Shimousa Province and was based in Toyoda County along Kinu River.

By misfortune, Lake Towada erupted in 915.  The lake is the largest crater lake in Honshu Island, Japan.  In 915, it erupted in the Nakaumi caldera, devastating the surrounding area with pyroclastic flows and lahars, and covering most of Mutsu and Dewa Province with volcanic ash, leading to crop failures, climate change and famines.  The Fuso Ryakuki, a Japanese historical text compiled at the end of the twelfth century, recorded that the sun was shaded so thick that it looked like a moon even in Kyoto. 

   Among other younger brothers:  Yoshifumi was too young to follow Takamochi at first but later moved to Sagami Province in 923.  Yoshimasa later moved to the Kanto Region and was based in Mimori along Sakura River in Hitachi Province.

     Although Yoshikane married his daughter to Masakado (?-940), the son of Yoshimasa, who died earlier, Yoshikane didn't get along well with Masakado.  Or Masakado might have been a troublemaker among the Taira Family.  If the Taira Family were to advance to Shimotsuke Province to rule more inland waterways such as Watarase and Tone Rivers, Masakado had to set his eyes to the west.  Instead, he was involved in the family's internal conflicts over vested interests.  On October 21st, 935, Yoshimasa and Masakado fought in Kawawa Village, Niihari County, Hitachi Province.  The village was along Kinu River.  So, the fight was over the conflicts between ancient administrative zoning versus contemporary geopolitical positioning.  Yoshimasa lost and clung to Yoshikane.  In August, 937, Yoshikane captured Masakado's wife and children, that is Yoshikane's daughter and grandchildren, and brought them back to Kazusa Province.  Yoshikane’s sons, Kinmasa and Kintsura, however, released them for Masakado.

     When Masakado tried to get independent from the central government in 939, Kinmasa and other 7 samurais defeated Masakado in 940.  Soon, Kinmasa was appointed as the Governor of Awa Province, and later as that of Musashi Province in 942.  When he was the Governor of Musashi Province, he revived Senso-ji Temple.

     Then one day, on March 18th, 945, to be exact, Avalokiteshvara appeared Kinmasa's dream and said to him, "If you have blue seaweed, red seaweed, and black seaweed off Senso-ji Temple, you will be in perfect health, enjoy better luck, and attain the state of Buddhist enlightenment in your after life."  He followed the divine message, gathered seaweed, and ate them.  They tasted very good, and were good for his health too.  As he followed Avalokiteshvara's "nori" (teachings in Japanese), he named the seaweed "Asakusa (the other pronunciation of "Senso") Nori (Laver)".  Believe it or not.

     Komagata-do Temple is also the #2 of the Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

Address: 2 Chome-2-3 Kaminarimon, Taito City, Tokyo 111-0034