Virtual Modern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Konjo-in Temple

 

     Priest Eijun (?-1594) got a statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, somehow or other.  The statue was about 5 centimeters tall and was made by Visvakarman in India.  Eijun built a Kannon-do hall to enshrine it.  Later, the hall became a temple and was named Konjo-in.

     The precincts had another Kannon-do hall which enshrined a 90-centimeter-tall Avalokitesvara statue.  The hall also enshrined Kojin, the Japanese god of fire, the hearth, and the kitchen.

     In April, 1945, all the buildings were burned down in the air raid.  In Komai-cho, Sekiguchi, there used to be a Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple, which enshrined an Acalanatha statue.  Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651) chose it as one of 5-colored Acalanatha statues: Black-eyed, Yellow-eyed, Red-eyed, Blue-eyed, and White-eyed Acalanatha statues.  The one in Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple was White-eyed, or Mejiro in Japanese.  The place name, Mejiro, was after the statue's name.  Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple also burned down in May, 1945, and was merged by Konjo-in Temple after World War II.  The White-Eyed Acalanatha statue is enshrined in Konjo-in Temple today. 

     According to tradition, Priest Tenkai (1536-1643), a religious advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), placed five protective Acalanatha statues at strategic points on the outskirts of Edo in the early 17th century to religiously protect the new capital of the Tokugawa Shogunate, based on the Chinese Wuxing (or Five Phases) philosophy. The Five Phases are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.  Each of them corresponds to the colors of Blue, Red, Yellow, White, and Black respectively.  Accordingly, they had Blue-eyed, Red-eyed, Yellow-eyed, White-eyed, and Black-eyed Acalanatha statues.  They were so popular that White-eyed (Mejiro In Japanese) and Black-eyed (Meguro in Japanese) even became place names.  It's an urban legend, and 2 temples insist they enshrine Yellow-eyed Acalanatha.

Blue-eyed Acalanatha is enshrined in Saisho-ji Temple in Taishido; Red-eyed Acalanatha is enshrined in Nankoku-ji Temple; Yellow-eyed Acalanatha is enshrined in Eikyu-ji Temple and/or in Saisho-ji Temple in Hirai; White-eyed Acalanatha used to be enshrined in Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple and is now enshrined in Konjo-in Temple; and Black eyed Acalanatha is enshrined in Ryusen-ji Temple.

Konjo-in Temple

Address: 2 Chome-12-39 Takada, Toshima City, Tokyo 171-0033

Phone: 03-3971-1654

Saisho-ji Temple

Address: 4 Chome-15-1 Taishido, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0004

Phone: 03-3419-0108

Nankoku-ji Temple

Address: 1 Chome-20-20 Honkomagome, Bunkyo City, Tokyo 113-0021

Phone: 03-3942-0706

Eikyu-ji Temple

Address: 2 Chome-14-5 Minowa, Taito City, Tokyo 110-0011

Phone: 03-3801-6328

Saisho-ji Temple

Address: 1 Chome-25-32 Hirai, Edogawa City, Tokyo 132-0035

Phone: 03-3681-7857

Ryusen-ji Temple

Address: 3 Chome-20-26 Shimomeguro, Meguro City, Tokyo 153-0064

Phone: 03-3712-7549