Virtual Eastern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Shoto-in Temple

     Shoto-in Temple was founded by Satake Yoshinobu (1570-1633) for his late wife in Akita County, Dewa Province.  As it was on September 17, 1602 that Yoshinobu moved to Akita from Hitachi Province, it must have been after 1602 that the temple was founded although his wife had committed suicide in 1590.

     In 1087, Minamoto Yoshiie (1039-1106) put up a poor fight against Kiyohara Takehira (?-1087) and Iehira (?-1087) in Dewa Province.  Hearing the bad news, his brother, Yoshimitsu (1045-1127), officially requested the Imperial Court to let him enter the war.  As his request was turned down, he resigned and went to the province to attack Kanezawa Fortress, which Kiyohira and Iehira were holding.

     After the triumph, Yoshimitsu returned to Kyoto and was promoted to the third classed officer of the Ministry of Justice.  He was later appointed to the vice-governor of Hitachi Province, where he married a daughter of Yoshida Kiyomoto, who belonged to the Taira Clan.  Their first son, Yoshinari (1067-1133), settled down in Satake, Kuji County, Hitachi Province, and married another daughter of Kiyomoto. Their first son, Masayoshi (1081-1147), started calling their family Satake, and became the 1st head of the family.  He expanded the family's power across the northern 7 counties of Hitachi Province, and married a daughter, who was born between Fujiwara Kiyohira (1056-1128) of Mutsu Province and a daughter of an officer of the office of Fujiwara Seishi (1122-1182), who was a consort of Emperor Sutoku (1119-1164).

     Yoshishige (1547-1612), the 18th head of the Satake Family, realized the largest territories for the family.  In the process of expanding his hegemony over Shimotsuke Province, Yoshishige contracted the marriage of convenience between his son, Yoshinobu, and a daughter of Nasu Suketane (?-1583) in 1572.  As Yoshinobu was just 3 years old then, it was in 1585 that they actually got married.  The wife was said to be 18 years old in the year.

     The expansion of the territories of the Satake Family caused their confrontation against Date Masamune (1567-1636) in the north and the Later Hojo Clan in the south.  While the Satake Family was fighting against both sides in the Northern Kanto Region, however, the whole country was going to be swallowed up by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598).  Yoshishige and Yoshinobu were going to ally with Hideyoshi to attack the Later Hojo Clan on both sides, while some other warlords in the Northern Kanto Region including Suketane were going to fight against Hideyoshi to protect the Kanto Region.  In April, 1590, Yoshinobu’s wife was said to have killed herself to lodge a remonstrance.  It wasn’t recorded what kind of remonstrance she had.  Was she to persuade Yoshinobu to take her father’s side?  Or was she going to cut Yoshinobu’s anxiety over the relationship with the Nasu Family so that he could freely go over to Hideyoshi?  It was on May 27th that Yoshinobu had an audience with Hideyoshi in Odawara.  On July 7th, the Later Hojo Clan surrendered.

     After Hideyoshi’s death, Yoshinobu went over to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) as many other warlords did.  Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Yoshinobu became the first lord of the Akita Domain in Dewa Province.  Later, Yoshinobu married a daughter of Tagaya Shigetsune (1558-1618), who was based in Shimotsuma Castle in Seki County, Hitachi Province.  Although the couple had 2 sons, they both died young.  People in those days were very superstitious, and they thought the boys died young because of the curse of Yoshinobu’s late wife.  It meant that Yoshinobu didn’t follow his late wife’s wishes.  Anyway, he founded Shoto-in Temple after his wife’s posthumous Buddist name.

     In 1694, for a certain reason, the temple couldn’t remain in Akita, left there with the gravestone of Yoshinobu’s wife left there, and moved to its present place in Edo.  It is unknown what the reason was.  Another superstition?

     The temple has a copy of the #28 deity of the Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 2 Chome-6-2 Shitaya, Taito City, Tokyo 110-0004

Phone: 03-3873-5338

The Ruins of Shoto-in Temple

Address: Hebino-18-1 Tegata, Akita, 010-0851