Virtual Edo Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Reigan-ji Temple

 

     Priest Reigan (1554-1641) was born in Numazu, Suruga Province, as the 3rd son of Numazu Ujikatsu, who was subject to the Imagawa Clan.  As they shared the same name with the place name, they could have been a powerful family there since ancient times.

     Reigan’s father and 2 elder brothers were killed in fighting when Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) attacked Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) across the border between the Mikawa and Owari Provinces in 1554.  For some reason, Reigan didn’t succeed to the head of the family, but entered the priesthood in Joren-ji Temple in Numazu.  Later, he moved to Daigan-ji Temple in Oyumi, Shimousa Province, where once an Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun “reigned”.  In 1590, when Tokugawa Yeyasu (1542-1616) moved to the Kanto Region, Reigan left there and moved to Nara, where he founded more than 10 temples.  Ieyasu heard of Reigan, and asked him to come back to the Kanto Region.  He returned to Daigan-ji Temple.  Later, he moved to Edo, and built a hermitage in Kayabacho.  More and more people adored him, and visited the hermitage.  Mukai Tadakatsu  (1582-1641) reclaimed an island in a marsh of reeds, built Reigan-ji Temple in it.  The island was named Reigan-jima Island.  Both Kayabacho and Reiganjima were at the mouth of the Old Tone River.  Why Mukai Tadakatsu?

     Taira Sadamori (?-989) was fighting around the northern part of the Kanto Region against Taira Masakado (?-940), who was trying to get independent from the central government when Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941) was fighting against the central government in the West as the first pirate king in Japan.  After Masakado’s defeat and death, Sadamori was promoted to make a provincial officer in Tanba and Mutsu Provinces.  He seems never to have worked in Ise Province.

     Somehow or other, his son, Korehisa, was fighting in 998 against Taira Munenori (?-1011), whose grandfather was a younger brother of Sadamori’s father, over “kami-no-kori” (literally gods’ counties).  There used to be 6 gods’ counties in Ise Province, and 3 of them were located in the northern part, where both Korehisa and Munemori were based.  The counties' taxes were spent to support Ise Shrine.  The fight lasted for 2 generations, and finally Muneyori’s son, Munetsune, was arrested at Yokokawa in Mt. Hiei in 1021 officially by the police and judicial chief but virtually by Korehira’s son, Masamori.

     During the fight, probably to make his position better, Munetsune donated Masuda Manor in Kuwana County, Ise Province, in 1013 to Fujiwara Yorimichi (992-1074), who was the eldest son of Michinaga (966-1027), the most powerful man in Japan at the time.  Even after his arrest, he donated a navy blue lapis lazuli salvia jar to Todai-ji Temple.  The jar, which is still kept in Shoso-in, is presumed to have been made at Fergana in Turkistan and might have been brought by sea to Masuda Manor, where a base of the sea people who were active around Ise Bay was located.

     Even in the 12th century, we can find a document about a lawsuit between Kume Tametoki, a low-ranking official, and Kuwana Kanbe, a low-ranking shrine priest, over port tolls in the manor.  Later during the Warring States Period in Japan, the northern part of Ise Province produced the Mukai Family, a pirate samurai family, who became the navy magistrate of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

     In the 15th century, the family came to work and fight for the Kitabatake Clan, the ruler in Ise Province.  Mukai Tadatsuna (1488-1553) died at an ocean village, Tashigara, Watarai County, Ise Province.  His son, Masashige (1519-1579), moved to Suruga Province to be a vassal of the Imagawa Clan, the ruler of the province, in the late 1550’s while other family members stayed in the southern part of Ise Province.

     In the 1550's, Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) was busy building his navy to support his expedition to Kyoto.  In 1558, he also recruited Itami Yasunao (1522-1596) as a navy samurai, who was born in Itami, Settsu Province, as a son of the lord of Itami Castle, Motosuke (?-1529).  Motosuke was killed defending his castle, involved in the internal fighting within the Miyoshi Clan.  Yasunao had traveled around the provinces, seeking employment as a samurai, under the protection of Mano Tokiaki, a vassal of his late father and the maternal grandfather of himself.

     Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) was killed on his expedition to Kyoto, and his son, Ujizane (1538-1614) succeeded him.  Ujizane, however, was defeated by Takeda Harunobu (1521-1573) and was driven out of Suruga Province in 1568.  In 1572, Mukai Masashige was re-employed by the Takeda Clan.

     Almost at the same time, in 1571, Ohama Kagetaka (1540-1597), who had been driven out of Shima Province by Kuki Yoshitaka (1542-1600), was employed by the Takeda Clan, too.  It was under the command of Kagetaka that Masashige operated as one of Takeda Sea Forces.

     Masashige’s brilliant naval operation was recorded in 1577.  Kajiwara Kagemune, who was commanding Izu Sea Forces under the Hojo Clan, attacked Kambara Castle and other castles in the eastern part of Suruga Province.  Kambara Castle had been seized by the Hojo Clan from the Imagawa Clan in 1568, but, in the same year, had been captured by the Takeda Clan, but had been re-captured by the Hojo Clan in the same year.  In 1569, the castle fell to the Takeda Clan again.  Kokokuji Castle was located about 30-kilometer east from Kambara Castle, much nearer to Hojo’s domain.  Masashige defended the castle almost at the expense of his family.

     Mukai Masashige was killed by Hoshino Kakuemon when the Takeda Clan was attacked by the Tokugawa Clan from the west at Mochibune Castle on September the 19th, 1579.  His elder son, Masakatsu (1537?-1579), was also killed in the battle.  His younger son, Masatsuna (1556-1624), escaped from death as he was staying in Fukuro Castle, about 15 kilometers east.  Masatsuna’s succession was admitted by Takeda Katasuyori (1546-1582) on October the 16th in the same year.

     In 1580, Masatsuna fought against the Hojo Clan’s navy, which was led by Kajiwara Kagemune, who was based in Numazu.  As the naval situation got worse for Takeda’s navy, they were ordered to give up their boats and come ashore.  However, Masatsuna urged, “You use the word ‘up.’  But naval fighting is different from those on land, and, once my boat is captured by the enemy, my poor reputation as a pirate will bring eternal disgrace to my family.”  With the words, he kept fighting until the situation got better.

     On March the 11th, 1582,  Takeda Katsuyori (1546-1582) was, however, forced into a corner to commit suicide at the foot of Mt. Temmoku, attacked by the allied forces of the Oda and Tokugawa Clans and betrayed by Kiso Yoshimasa (1540-1595), Katsuyori's brother-in-law, Anayama Nobuyuki (1541-1582), a relative of Katsuyuki, Oyamada Nobushige (1539-1582), and others.

     Now that Mukai Masatsuna (1556-1624) lost his lord, he became masterless samurai.  It was Honda Shigetsuna (1529-1596) who persuaded Masatsuna to be re-employed (re-re-employed, as Mukai Family) by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), whose army killed Masatsuna’s father and elder brother.  Ieyasu was busy building his own sea forces to face up to those of the Hojo Clan.

     In 1583, Mukai Masatsuna successfully attacked Suzuki Danjuro, a vassal of the Hojo Clan’s, and won his head, although Masatusna himself was wounded by an arrow.  This exploit brought him his first certificate of military merit from Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).

     In 1584, when the Battle of Komaki and Nagakune was fought between Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), linking in with the battle, Masatsuna fought against Hideyoshi’s navy, Kuki Navy.  Amazingly, he won a fight in Ohama Bay, Shima Province, and this victory brought him a nationwide reputation as a pirate.

     A document dated February the 14th, 1590, wrote, “Tokugawa Ieyasu took a ship, Kuni-ichi-maru (literally, the Province First; a kind of Navy Force One), which Mukai Masatsuna was taking care of, from Shimizu Port to Kambara Port, and stayed in Nakakubo.”  It means Masatsuna had been appointed as a magistrate of the lordly ship of the Tokugawa Clan by that time.

     In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) was transferred from Mikawa, Totomi, Suruga, Kai and Shinano Provinces in the Tokai and Tozan Regions to Musashi, Sagami, Awa, Kazusa, Shimousa, Hitachi, Kozuke and Shimotsuke Provinces in the Kanto Region by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598).  Whether it was a promotion or a demotion, Ieyasu had to accept the radical deal and took the risk of moving to an unfamiliar region.  So did his vassals.

     Mukai Masatsuna (1556-1624) moved to Misaki, Miura County, Sagami Province, which lay at the eastern side of the mouth of Edo Bay.  He also had another mansion at the mouth of the Old Tone River.

     In 1597, Masatsuna’s son, Tadakatsu (1582-1641) started serving Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632), who was Ieyasu’s son and the second shogun.  Tadakatsu built his own residence at Horie, Katsushika County, Shimousa Province (near today’s Tokyo DisneyLand) across the Old Tone River from his father’s residence.  Together, they guarded Edo from naval attacks.  Reiganjima Island was reclaimed between the 2 residences.

     Numazu is an ancient settlement, mentioned in Nara period records as the original provincial capital of Suruga Province before the separation of Izu Province from Suruga in 680, and subsequent transfer of the provincial capital to the banks of the Abe River in what is now Shizuoka City.  It was in Azuma Kagami, or the Mirror in East, that Numazu was first mentioned in 1208 in a written document and the name literally meant Marsh Port.  The area had a beach for boats to be pulled up and the mouth of Kano River to anchor ships, with a marsh overgrown with knotweed as its hinterland, which was called Tade-hara, namely Knotweed Field.

     Anyway, it might have been when Mukai Masatsuna was fighting around Numazu that he became acquainted with the relatives of Reigan, who was in Oyumi, Shimousa Province, at the age of 30 at the time.

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