Virtual Edo Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Tomioka-Hachiman-gu Shrine

 

     Eitai-ji Temple was founded by Priest Chosei (?-1636) in 1627 in Eitai Island, which was a sand bank in the estuary of the Ara, Old Tone, and Old Watarase Rivers, opposite from the town of Edo.  It is unknown whether the temple was named after the Island or vice versa.  It was a shrine temple of Tomioka-Hachiman-gu Shrine, and enshrined an Avalokitesvara statue as the #31 deity of the Edo Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  The temple was abolished after the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order by the Meiji Restoration Government in 1868.  In 1896, Kissho-in Temple, which used to be one of 11 branch temples in the precincts of Eitai-ji Temple, and which was founded by Yuhan in 1692, was renamed Eitai-ji by Monk Kakua after.

     Ina Tadanobu (?-1712), built Eitai Bridge, the 4th bridge across Sumida River, between Edo and Eitai Island in 1698.  He used leftover lumber for the reconstruction of Konpon-Chu-do Hall of Kannei-ji Temple after the 1657 Meireki Great Fire.  In those days, the area was almost at the mouth of Sumida River, ships from other provinces passed through, and Mukai Tadakatsu (1582-1641) managed the checkpoint to control the call of the ships.  The bridge was, accordingly, quite a large one, with its piers 3 meters tall from the river surface at high tide.  It was 200 meters long and 6 meters wide and commanded a fine view of Mt. Fuji in the west, Mt. Tsukuba in the north, Mt. Hakone in the south, and Awa and Kazusa Provinces in the east.  

     Ina Tadaharu (1606-1653) changed the watercourses of the Ara, Old Tone, and Old Watarase Rivers under the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Tadaharu first stopped the Aino River, a bypass of the Old Tone River to save Edo from floods.  In 1621, he finished digging a canal to make the Old Tone River flow into the Old Watarase River, and started separating the Kinu and Kobai Rivers.  In 1629, he made the Ara River flow into the Iruma River, and the New Kinu River started running.  In 1630, the New Kobai River started running.  In 1635, he started building the Edo River and finished it in 1641.  Do you follow what I have said?  I wonder how many people understood his ultimate end.  Finally in 1654, 1 year after his death, the Tone River ran east directly to the Pacific Ocean, and it was his son, Tadakatsu (1617-1665), who gave a finish to the project.  Tadakatsu's grandson, Tadanobu (?-1712), built Eitai Bridge, the 4th bridge across Sumida River, between Edo and Eitai Island.

It is unknown whether the Avalokitesvara statue is still enshrined in the precincts of Tomigaoka-Hachiman-gu Shrine or was moved to today’s Eitai-ji Temple.

Tomioka-Hachiman-gu

Address: 1 Chome-20-3 Tomioka, Koto City, Tokyo 135-0047

Phone: 03-3642-1315

Eitai-ji Temple

Address: 1 Chome−15−1 Tomioka Koto City, Tokyo 135-0047

Phone: 03-3641-4015