Virtual Eastern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Komagata-do Temple

     Haji Matsuchi, Hinokuma Yamanari, and Hinokuma Tekenari were netting fishes in Miyato River (nearly Sumida River today) in 589.  They caught an Arya Avalokitesvara statue out of the river.  They wove a small shed with wild spinach canes, and put the statue in it. Komagata-do Temple stands at the very place where the wild-spinach-cane shed was built, or woven.

     But the deity in Komagata-do Temple today is another metamorphosis of Avalokitesvara, horse-headed Hayagriva.  The temple name, Komagata, literally means horse shape. 

     Taira Kinmasa was one of the 8 samurais who defeated Taira Masakado (?-940) in 940.  Soon, he was appointed as the governor of Awa Province, and later as that of Musashi Province in 942.  He revived Senso-ji Temple and built Komagata-do Temple to enshrine a horse-headed Hayagriva statue carved by Ennin (794-864).  It could be more modern than Senso-ji Temple itself.

     Komagata-do Temple is also #2 of the Old Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage and #4 of the Modern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 2 Chome-2-3 Kaminarimon, Taito City, Tokyo 111-0034