Virtual Modern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple

 

     In Komai-cho, Sekiguchi, there used to be a Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple, which enshrined an Acalanatha statue. 

     Edo Meisho Zue, or the Guide to Famous Edo Sites, was an illustrated guidebook for famous places in Edo, and was published in 1834.  The guidebook depicted Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple as follows, "At the foot of Shin-Chokoku-ji Temple, there is a weir, from which the stream gurgles and babbles night and day.  The temple commands the view of the stream, hamlets in Waseda, and woods in Takada.  It's impressively  scenic.  The precincts have restaurants which face the stream."

     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 burned down in May, 1945, and was merged with 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.  Their history is 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