Virtual Modern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Saisho-ji Temple

 

     Momiji-yama Hill was where it is even before the construction of Edo Castle.  Some say it was an ancient burial mound.  Some say Kyogaku-in Temple was founded on the hill, and was moved when Ota Sukenaga (1432-1486) built Edo Castle.  Some others say that the temple was founded by Priest Gen'o in 1604 after Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved into the castle.  Anyway, it moved to Sanpun-zaka Hill, Akasaka, and then to Aoyama-Minami-cho.  In 1882, after the Meiji Restoration, Kangyo-ji Temple, which had been founded in 1165 by Priest Gishu, supported by Minamoto Yorimasa (1104-1180), was abolished, and its Blue-Eyed Acalanatha statue was moved to Kyogaku-in Temple. Kyogaku-in Temple was moved again to its present place in 1908.  As Buddhism teaches, nothing is permanent.  In this sense, everything is modern.

     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.

Kyogaku-in Temple enshrines the Blue-eyed Acalanatha statue in its Acalanatha Hall, and its Main Hall enshrines the statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  The temple's full name is Chikuen-san Kyogaku-in Saisho-ji, and some call it Saisho-ji.

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

Phone: 03-3419-0108