Virtual Yamanote 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Choju-in Temple

     When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to Edo in 1590, he expanded Edo Castle.  Those who lived along the castle’s moat, which became an inner moat after the expansion, near today’s Kiji-bashi Bridge, were moved to Ushigome Village, Toshima County, Musashi Province.  The alternate site, however, was transferred to the domicile of foot soldiers of the Tokugawa Shogunate, thus which was called Okachi-machi, literally Foot Soldier Town, in 1654.  The villagers were evicted to a marsh in the village, which was called Kaitai-cho, literally Alternate Town.  As they didn’t have financial means to reclaim bogs, they patiently threw in garbage and waste to the bogs, and built their houses one by one.  Choju-in Temple was presumably founded during the reclamation process.  As the population of Edo increased, 208 houses were there in 1828, and, for some reason, they had many secondhand clothing stores.

     The temple used to enshrine an eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statue, was abolished, presumably, after the Meiji Restoration, and it is unknown where the statue has gone.

     Kaitaicho has 2 temples alive: Denkyu-ji Temple, which belongs to the Otani School of the True Pure Land Buddhism, and Tanaka-ji Temple, which belongs to the Soto Chan School.  Choju-in Temple might have belonged to another Buddhist school.

Address: Kaitaicho, Shinjuku City, Tokyo 162-0802