Virtual Sayama 33 Kannon Pilgrimag #1 Konjo-in Temple

 

     Kukai (774-835) was said to have built a hermitage in Yamaguchi Village, Iruma County, Musashi Province, sometime between 810 and 824 to enshrin a thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue which was  said to have been carved by Gyoki (668-749).  Believe it or not.  As Kukai dispatched his apprentices to the Eastern Provinces in 815, it must have been one of them that actually founded the hermitage.  Later, Konjo-in Temple was founded to manage the hermitage and the statue.  The temple has a temple bell dug out in Ogane Village nearby.  All in all, the temple and its surrounding area were very mysterious.

     The precincts have an old stone itabi dated 1365, the 4th year of Joji, whose calendar was used under the Northern Court.  It means the local samurai belonged to the Northern Court in the Period of the Northern and Southern Courts.

     Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) established the Ashikaga Shogunate on the pretext of belonging to the Northern Court in 1338.  In 1349, he called his eldest son, Yoshiakira (1330-1367), from Kamakura to Kyoto, and sent his second son, Motouji (1340-1367), to Kamakura from Kyoto as a Kanto Deputy Shogun.  From 1353 to 1362, Motouji stayed in Iruma County to bring the Kanto Region under control.  So, the samurai who was buried under the old monument might have fought for Motouji.

Address: 2203 Kamiyamaguchi, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1153

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