Virtual Eastern Edo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Senju-in Temple

 

     Nun Myoko and Nun Myoyu traveled through provinces with the head of Amitabha, which had been carved by Unkei (?-1224).  When they stayed in Odawara, Sagami Province, Priest Setsuga visited them.  The three built a hermitage to enshrine the head on March 17th, 1506.  In April, 1563, Ando Rysei, an economic official of the Later Hojo Clan, supported the priest to make the hermitage Seigan-ji Temple.  A concubine of Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571) had the body carved for the head of Amitabha.

     In 1591, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1546-1616) ordered the temple to move to Edo, but the second priest, Roei, founded another Seigan-ji Temple in Edo.  In 1595, Senju-in Temple was founded as a branch temple of Edo-Seigan-ji Temple by Priest Kaijitsu.  It was moved to its present place in 1696.

     In 1700, the Five Tathagatas Hall was built in the precincts of Seigan-ji Temple.  The Five Tathagatas or the Five Wisdom Tathagatas are Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Vairocana, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi, who embody the principle of enlightenment in Buddhism.  They are the primary object of realization and meditation in Shingon Buddhism, a school of Vajarayana Buddhism founded in Japan by Kukai (774-835).

Address: 3 Chome-12-48 Negishi, Taito City, Tokyo 110-0003

Phone: 03-3875-4794

Seigan-ji Temple

Address: 1 Chome-8-16 Hamacho, Odawara, Kanagawa 250-0004

Phone: 0465-22-1703