Virtual Yamanote 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #11Sogen-ji Temple

 

     Fujiwara Tamenori fought together with Taira Sadamori (917-989) and Tawara Tota (891-958) to beat Taira Masakado (903-940).  After their victory, Tamemori became an undersecretary of the Woodwork Agency. He created a new family name with Japanese phrases "ku" (work) and "do" (another pronunciation of "fuji"), Kudo.  He also held important positions in Izu, Suruga, Kai, and Totomi Provinces, and his descendants lived there.  The 7th head of the Kudo Family, Suketsugu, had 2 sons, Suketsune (1147-1193) and Sukemochi.  Sukemochi inherited the Usami Manor in Izu Province, and called his family Usami.

     Sukemochi joined Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) in his rebellion against Taira Kiyomori (1118-1181) from the very beginning.  After Yoritomo's victory and the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, Sukemochi's offspring spread to surrounding areas.  One of them lived in Minobu, Koma County, Kai Province.

     Generations later, when the lord of Kai Province, Takeda Katsuyori (1546-1582), lost to Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), Usami Hisamoto (?-1631), one of the descendants, fled to Musashi Province, and founded Sogen-ji Temple in Ushigome Village, Toshima County, inviting Priest Shin'yo (?-1628).  The temple presumably burned down in the 1657 Meireki Great Fire, and was moved to its present place in 1659.  In 1739, the supporters of the temple bought additional property, the site of Honju-ji Temple, which moved to Koishikawa-Yotsuya-cho,  for Sogen-ji Temple.  It still has wooden statues of Hisamoto and his wife.

     Sogen-ji Temple has a Kannon-do Hall which enshrines 2 eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statues: one is 24 centimeters tall, which is said to have been carved by Gyoki (668-749), and the other is 97 centimeters tall, which is the #11 deity of the Yamanote 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

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