Virtual Modern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Gyogan-ji Temple

 

     Gyogan-ji Temple was believed to have been founded by Saicho (766-822) and Ennin (794-864) in Ushigome Village when they visited the Kanto Region from 817.  Ushigome literally meant Cow Farm, and, due to the Taiho Code enacted in 703, a cow stockfarm was built in Musashi Province.  Do you know Magome in Tokyo?  Magome literally meant Horse Farm.

     Saicho (766-822) planned to build 6 towers to enshrine the Lotus Sutra.  In 814, he presented the Lotus Sutra to Usa-Hachima-gu Shrine.  In 817, he started visiting Eastern provinces.  Ennin (794-864) followed him.  It is unknown when they visited Ushigome Village and founded Gyogan-ji Temple.

     The Sahasrabhuja statue was believed to have been carved by Priest Genshin (942-1017).

     When Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) was defeated in the Battle of Ishibashi-yama in 1180, he fled to Awa Province. On his way, he stayed at the temple and prayed to the thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue for victory.  On the night, he dreamt the dream to bring the whole country under his control. As the Tokugawa Clan belonged to the Minamoto Clan in a broad sense, the temple was important for the Tokugawa Clan too.

     When Ota Dokan built the Edo Castle, Priest Sonkei (?-1632) conducted a religious ceremony to purify the ground, and founded the temple. The temple was important for Edo Castle, which was the main stronghold of the Tokugawa Clan.

     It is unknown where Edo townspeople recognized the modernity of the temple.

     Through the Tokugawa Period, one of the royal princes entered the Buddhist priesthood under the title Rinnoji-no-miya. He served as abbot of Rin'o-ji Temple in Nikko and Kan'ei-ji Temple in Edo. The Tokugawa Shogunate counted them as hostages and planned to set one of them up as their own emperor in case the Imperial Court became hostile against the Tokugawa Shogunate.

     During the Tokugawa Period, Rinnoji-no-miya visited Gangyo-ji Temple on February 2 every year.

     Prince Yoshihisa (1847-1895) became Rinnoji-no-miya in May, 1867. In January, 1868, the Battle of Toba-Fushimi broke out as the first fight of the Boshin War. On February 21st, he left Edo to Shizuoka to have peace negotiations with Prince Arisugawa Taruhito (1835-1895). On May 25th, he boarded Warship Chogei-maru and fled north.  During the unrest of the Boshin War (1868-1869) to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, Yoshihisa stayed north with the survivors of those who supported the Tokugawa Shogunate, and became Emperor Tobu, whose planned era name was believed to have been either Taisei or Enju.

     Following the Meiji Restoration in 1873, Emperor Meiji recalled all Imperial princes currently serving as Buddhist priests back to secular status. That same year, Prince Yoshihisa became the second head of the new princely house of Kitashirakawa-no-miya.  If Yoshihisa hadn't visited Gyogan-ji Temple in February, 1868, just before he left Edo, he might have never visited the temple.

     The 18th Priest Keiryu was a good calligrapher, and he drew a masthead for the Yomiuri Newspaper in the reisho style, a simplified form of ancient Chinese seal characters.

     Gyogan-ji Temple is also the #15 member temple of the Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 4 Chome-9-10 Gotanda, Shinagawa City, Tokyo 141-0031