Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

The Tamagawa Aqueduct was constructed by the Tokugawa Shogunate to supply drinking and fire-fighting water from the Tama River to Edo in 1653.  More than half a century later, the Tama Aqueduct Kannon Pilgrimages were organized at the same time.  Their organizers must have been very systematic as they organized 100 temples at a time.  However, the pilgrimages didn't become popular and little is known of their history.  As far as I have virtually visited the Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, I haven’t found any super-popular temple, while most other organizers of such pilgrimages in Edo tried to include such a super-famous temple as Senso-ji Temple.

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Gyozen-ji Temple

 

     Nagasaki Shigemitsu was subject to Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560).  After Yoshimoto was killed by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), he was fed up with the confusion of the Imagawa Clan, and moved to Seta, Ebara County, Musashi Province, with his family's temple, Doei-ji, and became subject to the Later Hojo Clan.  After the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan in 1590, he fed up with being a samurai and became a farmer in Seta.  After his death, the temple was renamed Gyozen-ji After his posthumous Buddhist name, Gyozen.  The Seta villagers became fed up with the floods of the Tama River, and moved the village from the river bank to the top of the plateau in 1626.  The temple commanded great views, and eventually the Eight Views of Tama River or the Eight Views of Gyozenji were chosen after the Eight Views of Xiaoxiang in China.  Which places were included in the Eight Views was different from selector to selector, but the Autumn Moon in Tama River, which was also depicted by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was definitely the one.

Address: 1 Chome−12−23 Seta, Setagaya, Tokyo 158-0095

Phone: 03-3700-3007

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #33 Enjo-in Temple

 

      In 1590, the Later Hojo Clan collapsed, and one of their vassals, Kira Ujitomo (1543-1603), escaped to Oyumi, Chiba County, Shimousa Province.  7 of Ujitomo's vassals (2 Saita Families, Shimizu, Akimoto, Yanashita, Yamada, and Oba Families) became farmers and developed Daita Village.  Later, they founded Enjo-in Temple as their family temple in the village.  When Takeo Toshiharu was appointed to be a ruler of the village, there already was the temple.

     Tama Aqueduct was completed in June, 1654.  In 1670, the aqueduct was expanded, and it started providing irrigation water.  Merchants invested in cultivating rice fields around Daita Village, the farmers sued the merchants for their unauthorized development.  Monk Shohoin sided with the merchants.  In 1674, the shogunate put what the merchants had developed under the shogunate's direct control.  In other words, the merchants' development was authorized.  The conflict between the farmers and the merchants continued.  Farmers versus merchants with corrupted samurai was one of the most popular stories in the Edo Period.

     Enjo-in Temple had a Kannon-do Hall with an eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statue, but the hall was burned down in the air raids on March 11th, 1945.

Address: 2 Chome-17-3 Daita, Setagaya City, Tokyo 155-0033

Phone: 03-3414-4584

Trees In the Town

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Juo-do Hall

 

     There used to be a Juo-do Hall in Matsubara Village, Ebara County, Musashi Province, on Handa Mound, an ancient tomb. 

     Juo literally means 10 kings, and who are actually 10 judges who reside between this world and the next world and who evaluate the dead, assessing their deeds in this world.

     King Qinguang judges the dead 6 days after their death.  King Chujiang judges the dead 13 days after their death.  First 7 judges are on duty after a multiple of seven, but we didn't have the idea of 0, so the first judge serves on the 6th day.  King Songdi judges after 20 days, King Wuguan after 27 days, King Yanmo after 34 days, King Biancheng after 41 days, and King Taishan after 48 days.

     King Pingdeng doesn't seem so hard-working and judges the dead after 99 days.  As Pingdeng literally means equality or egalitarianism, the king might care about work-life balance.  The other 2 kings are less occupied.  King Dushi judges the dead a year after their dead, and King Wudaozhuanlun after 2 years.  The dead have wait for 2 years before they are judged which hell to go to.

     As King Yanmo, Enma in Japanese, was the most famous, a Juo-do Hall was also known as an Enma Hall.  Some argue Edo had 100 Enma statues, and even 44 Enma Pilgrimage was organized and its illustrated map was published in 1989 by the Shitamachi Times.

     Anyway, the residential land development in the area has made Handa Mound smaller, and only a stone monument is left on it.  As the map doesn't list Juo-do Hall in Matsubara, the hall could have been abolished after the Meiji Restoration.  The hill between 6 Chome-21 and 6 Chome-22 is still called Enma-zaka.

Address: 6 Chome-20 Matsubara, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0043

Trees In the Town

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Zensho-ji Temple

       Roben (689-774) visited Sagami Province and founded Oyama-dera Temple (Address: 724 Oyama, Isehara, Kanagawa 259-1107) in 755.  He also carved an Acalanatha statue.  In 1711, Priest Nichiyu, the 9th priest of Shokoku-ji Temple (Address: 4 Chome-27-4 Setagaya, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0017), somehow got the statue, founded Zensho-ji Temple, and enshrined the statue there.  The temple experienced ups and downs.  Sometime between 1764 and 1772, the temple burned down.  Since then, it has been going downhill.

Address: 1 Chome-55-23 Gotokuji, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0021

Phone: 03-3420-2488

Trees In the Town

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #30 Gotoku-ji Temple

 

     In 1480, Kira Masatada built a hermitage for his aunt, Kotokuin, in the premises of Setagaya Fortress.  Why for his aunt, or a sister of his father, Yoritaka?  Presumably, his mother died young, and it might have been his aunt that reared or fostered him.  Or, as Masatada's name didn't have Yori- as many other heads of the family did, Yoritaka didn't have a son and adopted his sister's son, Masatada.  In that case, Kotokuin was Masatada's real mother.  Some records say Kotokuin was Yoritaka's daughter.  Yoritaka didn't have a son and married Tadamasa to his daughter.  As Kotokuin sounds a posthumous Buddhist name, Masatada's wife should have died young and Masatada built the hermitage to pray for the comfort of his late wife in the other world.  Anyway, the family believed in the Linji School at the time.  In the 1570's, the family was practically taken over by the Later Hojo Clan, and the hermitage converted to the Soto School in 1584.  In 1590, the clan collapsed, and the Ii Family ruled Setagaya Village.  They changed the hermitage to a temple and named it Gotoku-ji Temple after the posthumous Buddhist name of Ii Naotaka (1590-1659), Gotokuin, after his death.  The temple was located in the main part of the Setagaya Fortress.

     Tradition said a cat beckoned Naotaka to the temple.  A beckoning cat became an icon of the temple, and you can still find countless beckoning cats presented to the temple.

Address: 2 Chome-24-7 Gotokuji, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0021

Phone: 03-3426-1437

Trees In the Town

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Fukusho-ji Temple

 

     Matsubara Yaemon became a naturalized Japanese from China, which was under the reign of Emperor Tianqi (1605-1627), the second last emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).  At the end of each dynasty, educated refugees flooded into Japan.  He might have been one of them.  Yaemon worked for the Tokugawa Shogunate as a doctor, and was practically given Kyodozaike Village as his salary.

     Yaemon founded Fukusho-ji Temple in Kyodozaike Village, inviting Priest Xuanmu (?-1631), who was also a naturalized Japanese from China, either in 1624 or in 1626.

     The Kyoho Famine broke out in the 1730's.  Bad weather started at the end of 1731.  In 1732, the rainy season lasted for 2 months, and that caused a cold summer.  Harmful planthoppers bred on rice plants.  In 46 domains, their rice harvest was reduced to 27 percent.  969,900 people died of hunger.  In the Kanto Region, tax increases from 40 percent to 50 percent imposed by Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751) had weakened the resilience of peasants. The greed of samurai forced farmers and peasants to switch their planting from other crops to rice, regardless of the suitability of the climate and soil.  Their poor resilience caused them to die of diseases.  All the peasants in Kyodozaike Village died out.  The 10th priest, Hakusen, made up his mind to relieve people, visited the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, the Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage, collecting the soil of each temple.  He also built the copies of the 100 deities of the pilgrimages and enshrined them in Fukusho-ji Temple’s precincts in 1750.  His religious efforts and the spread of planting sweet potatoes prevented the further outbreaks of great famines.

Address: 1 Chome-22-1 Kyodo, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0052

Phone: 03-3420-3269

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Jotoku-in Temple

 

     The Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Jotoku-in Temple was founded in 1489 in Funasaka Village, Tama County, Musashi Province, to pray for the comfort of the late 9th Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihisa (1465-1489), by Priest Eiken (?-1494), supported by the Utsumi and Suzuki Families in the village.  They were both half-samurai and half-farmer.

Kira Shigetaka moved Jotoku-ji Temple to Miyasaka Village in the same county to religiously guard Setagaya Fortress, preferring its relationship with the Ashikaga Clan.  Although Shigetaka moved the temple-ship of Jotoku-ji, he left its statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, in Funasaka Village for the Utsumi and Suzuki Families.  Instead, he enshrined an Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha statue  which had been carved by Ennin (794-864).

     Who was Kira Shigetaka?

     Although Ashikaga Osauji (1211-1290) was the eldest son of Yoshiuji (1189-1255), as his mother was a maidservant, he became subject to the family.  After 1241, he left Kamakura and moved to Kira Manor in Mikawa Province to become the guardian samurai of the manor.  Since then, he called his family Kira.  In 1345, Kira Sadaie moved to Mutsu to fight for the Northern Court against the Kitabatake Family.  In 1553, he finally occupied Taga Castle in Mutsu.  His second son, Haruie, lost in infighting of the family and ran away to Akima Village, Usui County, Kozuke Province.  He was picked by Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367), the first Kando Deputy Shogun.  Haruie's offspring, Shigetaka, settled in Setagaya Fortress, Ebara County, Musashi Province.

     Kira Ujitomo (1543-1603) presented some rice fields to the temple in 1573.  He was sent to the Kira Family by the Later Hojo Clan to take over the family and their territory.

Address: 2 Chome-1-11 Miyasaka, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0051

Phone: 03-3420-1015

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Saifuku-ji Temple

 

     Some say the Hattori Family was from Ika County, Omi Province; others say they came from Hattori Village, Ahai County, Iga Province.  Hattori Masuhiro founded Saifuku-ji Temple in 1584.  That means the family moved to Akatsutsumi Village, Ebara County, Musashi Province, before Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to Edo in 1590. The family became subject to Ieyasu. Was the family subject to the Later Hojo Clan when the temple was founded?  Why was the family employed by Ieyasu?  Everything is mysterious.  There were some other Hattori Families and the most well-known was Hattori Masanari (1542-1597), the head of ninja under the Tokugawa Shogunate.   Masanari was buried in Sainen-ji Temple in Edo.

Address: 3 Chome-28-29 Akatsutsumi, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0044

Phone: 03-3321-6546

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Mitsuzo-in Temple

 

     In the 1570's, the Later Hojo Clan of Sagami and Musashi Provinces, the Uesugi Clan of Echigo Province, and the Takeda Clan of Kai and Shinano Provinces struggled for the hegemony in the Northern Kanto Region.  After the death of Uesugi Kagetora (1530-1578), Kozuke Province, the easternmost province in the Northern Kanto Region, was ruled by the Takeda Clan, and many local samurai in Shimotsuke Province yielded to the clan.  Enomoto Shigeyasu left Mizushiro Village, Tsuga County, Shimotsuke Province, and arrived at Kami-Kitazawa Village, Ebara County, Musashi Province, with his family.  He was welcomed by the ruler of the village, Suzuki Shigesada, and decided to settle in the village in 1580.  Later, Monk Raikei followed Shigeyasu from Tsuga County.  Shigesada let him stay in a Kannon-do Hall.  Shigesada's son, Sadamune, changed the hall into a temple, named it Mitsuzo-in, and appointed Raikei to be its priest.

     In 1730, Suzuki Niemon presented 100 bronze copies of the Avalokitesvara statues of the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, the Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage.

     In the Edo Period, Mitsuzo-in Temple also functioned as a shrine temple of Shori-Hachiman-jinja Shrine in the village, which had been founded in 1026.  Presumably, people settled in the upstream of Kitazawa River and developed Kami-Kitazawa Village at the turn of the 11th century.

Address: 2 Chome-24-6 Sakurajosui, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0045

Phone: 03-3303-0650

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Soshigaya Kanzeon-do Temple

 

     Fujiwara Fuyutsugu (775-826) became the Prime Minister in Kyoto. He had 8 sons. His 3rd son, Yoshikata, moved up through the aristocratic ladder far slower than his brothers. His son gave up the success in aristocratic society, and followed Minamoto Yoriyoshi (988-1075), when the Imperial Court fought against the Abe Clan in Mutsu Province from 1051 to 1063, the Former Nine Years' War. After the war, Motokata settled in Kasuya Manor, Osumi County, Sagami Province, and called his family Kasuya.

     Kasuya Arisue (?-1203) first fought against Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) when Yoritomo rebelled against the Taira Clan, but transferred to Yoritomo soon. When Yoritomo's youngest brother, Yoshitusne (1159-1189), advanced to Kyoto to suppress their cousin, Minamoto Yoshinaka (1154-1184), Arisue followed Yoshitsune. When Yoshitsune lost his position and was disgraced, he followed Hiki Tomomune to hunt Yoshitsune's remnants in Kyoto. Whenever power struggles among the Minamoto Clan broke out, Arisue was on the winners' side. After Yoritomo's death, his vassals started their own power games. In 1200, the power games turned into a real battle. When Kajiwara Kagetoki (1140-1200) was banished from Kamakura, and was killed on his escape flight to Kyoto in 1200, Arisue captured Kagetoki's friend, Minamoto Takashige. When Hiki Yoshikazu (?-1203) was framed up by Hojo Tokimasa (1138-1215), alas, Arisue's devil's luck ran out, and was killed in battle together with the Hiki Family. He was married to Yoshikazu's youngest daughter.

     Arisue's 3 sons, Arihisa (?-1221), Arinaga (-1221) and Hisasue, fled to Kyoto and became soldiers of Emperor Go-Toba (1180-1239). When the emperor rebelled against the Kamakura Shogunate, the 2 elder brothers were killed in battle. Hisasue was injured in battle in Oido on Kiso River on June 5th. Fed up with being disposable in the Imperial Army, he returned to his homeland, the Kanto Region. He went upstream along a tributary stream of Tama River, made his way into a branch gully of the stream, and settled in the nameless small valley in Musashi Province. His offspring embraced the teachings of Nichiren (1222-1282). After Nichiren’s death, they carved the statue of him and enshrined it in the gully. As Nichiren was called Soshi, namely Founding Reverend, the valley was called Shoshi-ga-ya, Founding Reverend's Valley.

     Centuries passed. In 1654, the Fukuda Jinzaemon in Shimo-Soshigaya, Lower Founding Reverend's Valley, led the villagers there, built an Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha statue, and enshrined it in a small hall, which became Soshigaya-Kannon-do Temple.

     After World War II, people's beliefs faded and Soshigaya-Kannon-do Temple went to ruin. Fukuda Fuku, however, remembered her ancestors' intent and squeezed in 100,000 yen. That moved other locals including Ishii Kenji. They raised 600,000 yen, and rebuilt the temple. I wonder why the Kasuya Family wasn’t involved.

     Let’s keep it simple.  It might have been in Kami-Soshigaya on the left bank of Sen River that the Kasuya Family settled.  As the population increased, the locals developed the opposite side and called the area Shimo-Soshigaya.  Shimo-Soshigaya people found it inconvenient to cross the river and built a new one on the right side of the river.  I don’t know if the Kasuya Family’s offspring still live in Soshigaya, but we can find the place name Kasuya on the left bank of the river just across the street north from Soshigaya.

Address: 9 Chome-1-6 Seijo, Setagaya City, Tokyo 157-0066

Soshi-do Temple

Address: 4 Chome-33-11 Soshigaya, Setagaya City, Tokyo 157-0072

Phone: 03-5490-6415

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Togaku-in Temple

 

     Monk Gekku of Hase-dera Temple in Yamato Province visited other provinces and arrived in the wilderness in Tama County, Musashi Province, in 1288.  He built a small hermitage.  Its premises became a holy place, and Nun Myoshin built her itabi, a Musashi-Province-style grave, in 1453.  In the Warring States Period, the Later Hojo Clan employed a measure to increase provincial wealth and military power.  People developed the wilderness around the hermitage and set up Megurisawa Village.  The villagers changed the hermitage into a temple and named it Daigan-ji in 1558, 2 years before the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan, the hegemon in the Kanto Region. 

     Hojo Tokimune (1251-1284), the 8th Regent of the Kamakura Shogunate, reigned with terror to repel the Mongolian Invasions in 1274 and 1281.  The sighting of the samurai power might have attracted Gekku to Musashi Province.  However, the reinforcement of the Kamakura Shogunate also meant the reinforcement of the Regency power, including their vassals.  In the 1280's, the leader of the direct vassals of the Shogun was Adachi Yasumori (1231-1285), while Taira Yoritsuna (?-1293) led the Regency vassals.  At noon on November 17th, 1285, when Yasumori visited the Regency residence, he fell into Yoritsuna's ambush.  More than 30 were killed on the spot, and the Adachi Family was destroyed by the evening.  The raids against direct vassals were made nationwide, and more than 500 were either killed or cornered to commit suicide.  In 1287, Emperor Go-Uda (1267-1324) was replaced with Emperor Fushimi (1265-1317).  Gekku came all the way from Yamato Province to the Kanto Region, but, realizing the samurai power and their reality, Gekku rather chose to retreat to the wilderness.

     In the 15th century, the conflict between the Kamakura Deputy Shogunate under the Ashikaga Central Shogunate and the Regency of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate was in a fix.  In 1454, the Kyotoku War broke out and lasted for 28 years till 1482.  Myoshin passed away in the calm before the storm.

     In the Edo Period, a Kono lost his eyesight.  He prayed to Hikawa-jinja Shrine and, one night, he dreamed of an oracle to pray to Chugu-Hachiman Shrine in Mt. Fuji.  He shut himself up in the shrine nights and days.  One night, he got a 12 centimeters tall Bhaisajyaguru statue with another oracle to bring it east.  He brought it back east to his hometown, and his eye disease was cured.  He enshrined it in Daigaku-ji Temple and changed its name to Togaku-in.  The Bhaisajyaguru statue is normally hidden from public view, and only the Kono Family display the statue every 20 years.

Address: 4 Chome-11-11 Chitosedai, Setagaya City, Tokyo 157-0071

Phone: 03-3483-0827

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Hosho-ji Temple

 

     Saimyo-ji Temple in Kosugi Village, Inage Manor, Tachibana County, Sagami Province, expanded its religous network and had more than 20 branch temples.  Hosho-ji Temple was one of them, and presumably was founded in the first half of the 17th century.  Although it has graves and Buddhist images which were made at the turn of the 18th century, the Great Tenpo Famine damaged its supporting village and their faith.  It became priest-less and its graveyard and documents were managed by Togaku-in Temple nearby.  The temple was unluckily caught in fire in 1886 and lost Hosho-ji Temple’s documents.  So, it is unknown exactly when it was founded and why it became a member temple of the Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  Its main deity is Mahavairocana with Acalanatha and Bhaisajyaguru standing on sides.  It also keeps the statues of Kukai (774-835) and Kakuban (1095-1143), but has no Avalokitesvara statue.  Although it used to have a Kannon-do Hall, the hall became independent after World War II and is the #22 member temple of the pilgrimage.  It means Hosho-ji Temple had 2 Avalokitesvara statues under its administration.  Where has #23 deity gone?

Address: 4 Chome-39-32 Funabashi, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0055

Phone: 03-3482-8694

Funahashi-Kannon-do Temple

Address: 1 Chome-20-16 Funabashi, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0055

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Kannon-do Temple

 

     The Tama Aueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Jotoku-in Temple was founded in 1489 in Funasaka Village, Tama County, Musashi Province, to pray for the comfort of the late 9th Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihisa (1465-1489), by Priest Eiken (?-1494), supported by the Utsumi and Suzuki Families in the village.  They were both half-samurai and half-farmer.

Kira Shigetaka moved Jotoku-ji Temple to Miyasaka Village in the same county to religiously guard Setagaya Fortress, prefering its relationship with the Ashikaga Clan.

     Who was Kira Shigetaka?

     Although Ashikaga Osauji (1211-1290) was the eldest son of Yoshiuji (1189-1255), as his mother was a maidservant, he became subject to the family.  After 1241, he left Kamakura and moved to Kira Manor in Mikawa Province to become the guardian samurai of the manor.  Since then, he called his family Kira.  In 1345, Kira Sadaie moved to Mutsu to fight for the Northern Court against the Kitabatake Family.  In 1553, he finally occupied Taga Castle in Mutsu.  His second son, Haruie, lost in infighting of the family and ran away to Akima Village, Usui County, Kozuke Province.  He was picked by Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367), the first Kando Deputy Shogun.  Haruie's offspring, Shigetaka, settled in Setagaya Fortress, Ebara County, Musashi Province.

     Although Shigetaka moved the temple-ship of Jotoku-ji, he left the hall with its statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, for the Utsumi and Suzuki Families.

     When Kira Yoriyasu was the head of the family, the Utsumi Family had their fortune and misfortune.  Yoriyasu liked both heterosexuality and homosexuality as warlords in those dasys often did.  Utsumi Kamon was as beautiful a boy as being linked to autumn leaves, and was loved by Yoriyasu dearly.  In the meanwhile, Yoriyasu had some concubines including Tokiwa, a daughter of Ohira Dewanokami, who was based in Okuzawa Fortress.  Tokiwa was also as beautiful a woman as being linked to spring flowers.

     When Tokiwa became pregnant, other concubines became jealous and circulated the rumor that Tokiwa and Kamon had romantic intrigue.  Yoriyasu heard the rumor and killed Kamon, destroying the Utsumi Family.  Tokiwa escaped but was caught on her way to Okuzawa Fortress.  When she killed herself, she let her pet white heron fly with her death tanka poem tied around its leg.  Where the bird arrived, white flowers like white heron birds bloomed.  As the bird was called sagi, people named the plants sagi-so, namely heron grass.  The white egret flower is the city flower of Setagaya.  However, as samurai's days ended, so did white egret flower's days.  As Setagaya became modernized, the flowers no longer grow wild there.

     The Kira Family was taken over by the Later Hojo Clan with Yoriyasu’s generation.  The Suzuki Family survived as a farmer.  The family produced the heads of the village from 1673 to 1729.

     A Kannon-do hall is said to have been erected where Jotoku-in Temple used to be located for the purpose of appeasing the followers of the temple, and the hall became the Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Kannon-do Temple.

Address: 1 Chome-20-16 Funabashi, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0055

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Zentoku-in Temple

 

     Somewhere in the Tokyo University of Agriculture along Nodai-dori Street, there used to be Zentoku-in Temple, which was abolished at the beginning of the Meiji Era (1868-1912).  The Gods and Buddhas Separation Order was issued in 1868.  The order caused great damage to Buddhism in Japan. The destruction of Buddhist property took place on a large scale all over the country.  The scrap wood of the temple was reused in the buildings of Sakura Elementary School.

Tokyo University of Agriculture

Address: 1 Chome-1-1 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0054

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Shoko-in Temple

 

     Ryuho-ji Temple was founded near the Sakuragi Ruins either by Kira Hruie or his son, Yoriuji.

     Sakuragi Ruins is a compound ruins from the Paleolithic period to modern times located in Sakura 1 Chome, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.  Situated on a plateau, its range is about 400 meters east-west, about 220 meters north-south, and the area is estimated to be about 80,000 square meters.  As for the age of the ruins, there are ruins from almost all eras, from the oldest stone tool manufacturing site of about 30,000 years ago to relatively new ones such as the local administrator's residence in the early modern period.  A large number of remains such as pit dwellings, graves, storage pits, and pitfalls have been confirmed that allow us to trace the history of the settlement.

     The terraces on which the Sakuragi site is located are less eroded than the surrounding terraces, and the land is relatively flat with little ups and downs. On the other hand, the area near the confluence of the Karasuyama River and the Hosoyato River on the east side of the Sakuragi Ruins is the widest lowland around the ruins.  The relatively flat terraces were most productive in the pre-rice-cultivation days, while the lowland was most productive in the rice-cultivation days.  The nearness of the 2 kinds of areas has secured the area the prosperity transcendental over histories.

     Despite the good preservation of the site, it lacks what other abandoned or buried sites have: the  prehistoric cemetery.  As Shoko-in Temple is located near, or within, the site, its precincts could have been a cemetery since prehistoric times.

     Who were, then, the Kira Family?

     Although Ashikaga Osauji (1211-1290) was the eldest son of Yoshiuji (1189-1255), as his mother was a maidservant, he became subject to the family.  After 1241, he left Kamakura and moved to Kira Manor in Mikawa Province to become the guardian samurai of the manor.  Since then, he called his family Kira.  In 1345, Kira Sadaie moved to Mutsu to fight for the Northern Court against the Kitabatake Family.  In 1553, he finally occupied Taga Castle in Mutsu.  His second son, Haruie, lost in infighting of the family and ran away to Akima Village, Usui County, Kozuke Province.  He was picked by Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367), the first Kando Deputy Shogun.  Haruie's offspring, Shigetaka, married a daughter of Uesugi Mochitomo (1416-1467), the head of Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Clan, and was subject to the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  Shigetaka's son, Yoriyasu (?-1562), however, married a daughter of Hojo Ujitsuna (1486-1541) and dumped the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate and the Kanto Deputy Shogunate itself.  Yoriysu’s son, Ujitomo (1543-1603), dumped the Later Hojo Clan to the Tokugawa Clan, and revived the temple, inviting Priest Rintatsu, to pray for the comfort of his late father in the other world, and renamed the temple Shoko-in after his father’s posthumous Buddhist name.  The temple was the largest one in the area under the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Address: 1 Chome-26-35 Sakura, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0053

Phone: 03-3426-6921

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #19 Senzo-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Senzo-in Temple was founded.

     There used to be an Inari Shrine in Isemori, Yokone Village, Tama County, Musashi Province.  As the village had another Inari Shrine, in 1849, they moved the one in Isemori to where Kamimachi-Tenso-jinja Shrine is.  The shrine  was maintained by Senzo-in Temple nearby.  After the Meiji Restoration, the shrine was once merged by Setagaya-Hachiman-gu Shrine.  Oba Nobuchika (1846-?), the 13th local administrator, changed Senzo-in Temple into Sakura Elementary School in 1880.  Its pupils found grave stones, human bones, and, above all, phosphorus burning in rainy seasons, which were thought to be will-o'-the-wisp in those days.  The shrine became independent again in 1931.  Senzo-in Temple used to be located in the south corner of the elementary school property, which still has a great red oak tree that has seen the 4 centuries of the local history.

Sakura Elementary School

Address: 2 Chome-4-15 Setagaya, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0017

Phone: 03-3420-5381

Kamimachi-Tenso-jinja Shrine

Address: 1 Chome-23-5 Setagaya, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0017

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Joko-ji Temple

 

     Joko-ji Temple was founded presumably by the Oba Family, who had their graves for generations in the temple, in 1444, when the Kanto Region was at the edge of the Warring States Period.

     Ashikaga Yoshinori (1394-1441), the 6th Central Shogun of Muromachi Shogunate, forced Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the 4th Kanto Deputy Shogun, into suicide.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered Mochiuji’s 2 sons, Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru, in his castle, and rebelled against Yoshinori in March, 1440.  On July 29, Yuki Castle was surrounded by the overwhelming strength of the shogunate army, which Tanenao joined.  The outcome was self-evident from the very beginning.  Yet, the Yuki Family held the castle for nearly a year.  On April 16, 1441, the castle finally fell.  Ujitomo and his son were killed in fighting.  Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto.  On their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, however, they were killed and left their death poems:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shuno-maru)

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

     Mochiuji’s youngest son, Eiju-maru, survived, became the 5th Kanto Deputy Shogun in 1449, and was given an adult name Shigeuji (1434-1497).

     Who were the Oba Family?

     Oba Kageyoshi (1128-1210) supported Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) in his rebellion against the Taira Clan and his establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate.  His son, Kagekane, disappeared when Wada Yoshimori (1147-1213) rebelled against Hojo Yoshitoki (1163-1224).

     On the Incident of Kajiwara Kagetoki (?-1200) in 1199-1200, Yoshimori conspired with the Hojo Clan.  On the Incident of Hiki Yoshikazu (?-1203) in 1203, He conspired with the clan again.  On the Incident of Hatakeyama Shigetada (1164-1205) in 1205, he conspired with the clan again.  In 1213, however, he was provoked to fight against the clan only to be defeated.

     Kagekane's brother, Kagetsura, was appointed to be a guardian samurai in a manor in Bingo Province later in the year, so the Oba Family wasn't destroyed as the Wada Family was.  Under the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333), Oba Fusahide became subject to the Kira Family and moved to Setagaya, Tama County, Musashi Province.  In the Warring States Period, which started in 1467, the Kira Family became subject to the Later Hojo Clan.  After the collapse of the clan in 1590, Oba Nobuhisa, the head of the family, chose to become a farmer.

     However, in 1633 under the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Ii Family came to rule Setagaya, and Nobuhisa's son, Morinaga, was appointed as a local administrator.  8 generations later, Oba Yajuro was promoted to samurai in 1830.

Address: 1 Chome-38-20 Setagaya, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0017

Phone: 03-3420-2481

Trees In the Town

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Jisso-in Temple

 

     Kakusho-zan Jisso-in Temple was founded by Maita Yorihisa (1568-1609) for his late father, Kira Ujitomo (1542-1603), whose posthumous Buddhist name was Jissoin, and for his late mother whose posthumous Buddhist name was Kakusho-in, inviting Priest Rintatsu.

     Who were Kira Ujitomo and Maita Yorihisa?

     Kira Osauji (?-1290) was born as the illegitimate son of Ashikaga Yoshiuji (1189-1255), one of the important and powerful samurai that had the direct master-servant relationship with the Kamakura Shogunate.  Although Osauji was the eldest son, his younger brother, Yasuuji (1216-1270), whose mother was the lawful wife of Yoshiuji, succeeded to the head of the Ashikaga Family.  Osauji started the Kira Family.

     Generations later, Kira Haruie was given Setagaya County in 1366 by Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367), the first Kanto Deputy Shogun.  Later, Kira Shigetaka built Setagaya Castle at the turn of the 15th century.

     Yoritaka was the great grandson of Haruie.

     Yoritaka’s great grandson, Yoriyasu (?-1562), worked and fought for the Kanto Deputy Shogunate at first.  In 1524, Uesugi Tomooki (1488-1537), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, lost Edo Castle to Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541).  Yoriyasu dumped the shogunate for the Later Hojo Clan.  About 2 decades later, Yoriyasu adopted a boy from Horikoshi Rokuro and Sakihime (?-1586), a daughter of Hojo Ujitsuna (1486-1541), although he had his own son.  The boy became Kira Ujitomo (1542-1603), and became the head of the family in 1561.   Ujitomo further married the daughter of Hojo Gen’an (1493-1589).  The Kira Family was actually taken over by the Later Hojo Clan.

     In 1590, the Later Hojo clan was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598).  Ujitomo  and his son Ujihiro flew to Kazusa Province.  Later, Ujihiro became subject to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), dumping his family name Kira and his first name Hiromoto.  He became Maita Yorihisa.

Address: 3 Chome-29-6 Tsurumaki, Setagaya City, Tokyo 154-0016

Phone: 03-3420-0307

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Kujo-in Temple

      Unane Village was located along Tama River.  Villagers developed surrounding areas.  One of them was located north-east in the hills, and called San’ya, namely Mountain Valley.  It is unknown when the Unane-San’ya was developed and when Kujo-in Temple was founded there.  In front of the temple, Inari Shrine was founded presumably at the same time.  It is unknown why they invited the Inari God, who was the family god of the Hata Clan in Kyoto in ancient itmes.  The shrine is called Uyama Shrine.  The grave of Monk Ryoson, the founder of the temple, is dated February 13th, 1681, but the temple is believed to be older and to have been priestless before Ryoson.

The temple was known for its Soban-Nenbutsu, in which they chant Namo Amitabhaya Buddhaya and strike gongs loudly.

Address: 4 Chome-13-4 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya City, Tokyo 156-0054

Phone: 03-3420-7912

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Eian-ji Temple

 

     Yoan-ji Temple was founded to pray for the comfort of the late Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the second Kanto Deputy Shogun, in the other world in Okuradani, Nkaido, Kamakura, Sagami Province, in 1398.

     Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the 4th Kanto Deputy Shogun, started the Eikyo War against Uesugi Norizane (1410-1466), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, in 1438. Mochiuji lost and killed himself in Yoan-ji Temple on February 2nd.  The temple became obsolete.

     Nikaido Morihide was the Secretary of the Administrative Department of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  His son, Priest Seisen, revived Yoan-ji Temple in Okura Village, Tama County, Musashi Province, after Okuradani in Kamakura.

     Sometime between 1573 and 1592, the temple was converted from the Linji School to the Tiantai School by Priest Ryoshin.  Sometime between 1655 and 1658, Priest Jokai revived the temple.

     The Ishii Family lived in front of the temple as a farmer under the Tokugawa Shogunate for generations, and they were a branch family of the Kitami Family.  The 6th head of the family, Kaneshige, started the Tamagawa Library.  His son, Shikoku (1778-1861), became the head of the librarians of the shogunate and was a famous scholar of the National Study, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy.

Address: 6 Chome-3-14 Okura, Setagaya City, Tokyo 157-0074

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Kissho-in Temple

 

     In 740, Gyoki (668-749) went through Kamata Village, Tama County, Musashi Province.  He met a poor woman who was about 60 years old.  She prayed to Ksitigarbha every night and day, and she asked Gyoki how to be liberated from earthly bondage and rest in peace.  Next Year, on January 24th, he returned to the village with a Ksitigarbha statue. The Hata Family helped build a hall for the statue.

     The Hata Clan came from Baekje in Korea Peninsula to Japan in 283.  Their branch families spread to Yamato, Yamashiro, Kawachi, Settsu, Awa and Iyo Provinces.  Their descendants further moved to Hadano, Sagami Province, and Kugayama, Musashi Province, and developed their settlements.  Those in Kugayama built an irrigation canal from Inokashira Pond.  The canal ran along a ridge on the Musashi Plateau to Kitazawa River, and was used as a part of the Tama Aqueduct nearly a millennium later. 

https://tokyoriver.exblog.jp/16828988/

     Roben (689-774) revived the temple and enshrined an Acalanatha statue.  The temple burned down in 1335.  On December 22nd in the year, Kitabatake Akiie (1318-1338) left Mutsu Province to advance to Kyoto.  When he passed Musashi Province, the temple was burned down.  He attacked Kamakura on January 2nd, 1336.  Later, the temple was revived, supported by Kira Shigetaka.

     Although Ashikaga Osauji (1211-1290) was the eldest son of Yoshiuji (1189-1255), as his mother was a maidservant, he became subject to the family.  After 1241, he left Kamakura and moved to Kira Manor in Mikawa Province to become the guardian samurai of the manor.  Since then, he called his family Kira.  In 1345, Kira Sadaie moved to Mutsu to fight for the Northern Court against the Kitabatake Family.  In 1553, he finally occupied Taga Castle in Mutsu.  His second son, Haruie, lost in infighting of the family and ran away to Akima Village, Usui County, Kozuke Province.  He was picked by Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367), the first Kando Deputy Shogun.  Haruie's offspring, Shigetaka, settled in Setagaya Fortress, Ebara County, Musashi Province, which was located downstream Karasugawa River, which runs through the southern valley of the ridge where the Hata Family constructed an irrigation canal.  He married a daughter of Uesugi Mochitomo (1416-1467), the head of Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Clan, and was subject to the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  He revived Kissho-in Temple.  Shigetaka's son, Yoriyasu (?-1562), however, married a daughter of Hojo Ujitsuna (1486-1541) and dumped the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate and the Kanto Deputy Shogunate itself.  However, he was forced to adopt Ujitsuna's grandson, and the Kira Family was taken over by the Later Hojo Clan.  After the clan collapsed in 1590, Kissho-in Temple lost its supporters, but neighboring farmers rebuilt its buildings.

     Well then, let’s get back to Kissho-in Temple’s start again.  I’m not talking about the old lady, but about the Hata Family, who constructed the irrigation system.  Where did they or their offspring go?  What if they stayed in Kamata and its surrounding area, managing the irrigation system?  They must have been handy for newcomers such as the Kira Family.  That might have been why the family took good care of the temple which had been actually founded by the Hata Family in ancient times.  And it might have been the family’s descendants that took care of the temple in the Edo Period.

Address: 4 Chome−11−18 Kamata, Setagaya, Tokyo 157-0077

Phone: 03-3416-4468

Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     Priest Jikkai, the 14th priest of Muryoju-ji Temple in Kawagoe, founded Enjo-ji Temple in Odawara, Sagami Province, at the beginning of the 16th century.  It was burned in a battle and was moved to Unane Village, Tama County, Musashi Province, in the 1570's.  In those days, Hojo Ujitsuna (1487-1541) fought against Satomi Yoshitoyo (1497-1534) in Awa Province, Ashikaga Yoshiaki (?-1538), the Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun in Shimousa Province, Uesugi Tomosada (1525-1546), the head of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Clan in Musashi Province.    The temple was burned down again in those battles.  The priest of the temple at the time avoided the temple name, Enjo, the same pronunciation with "going up in flames", changed it Kannon-ji, and moved it to its present place.

     The story sounds somewhat suspicious.  There must have been something behind it.  Ujitsuna's father, Ise Shinkuro (1456-1519), came to the Kanto Region to become a Warring-States-Period hero.  He occupied Odawara Castle in 1495.  In less than a decade, Jikkai moved to Odawara from Kawagoe, where the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Clan was based.  As the Later Hojo Clan advanced to Musashi Province, so moved the temple.  Just a coincidence?  Or did Sozui invite a person who knew the inside stories of Kawagoe?  He always worked out strategies and tactics carefully.

     Long time ago, Hermit Senho removed the seawater in Senba, Tama County, Musashi Province, at the north-eastern edge of the Musashi Plateau, and he enshrined the Amitabha statue there.

     If he/she lived 6,000 years ago, when the seawater washed against the plateau directly, and lived for millenia, it's quite possible.

     In 830, Ennin (794-864) changed it into a temple and named it Muryoju-ji.  After 1301, Kita-in and other branch temples were built.  When Ujitsuna and Tomosada fought for a decade, the temple was burned down in 1537.

     Osobi Mikuma Moved from the Hii River Basin in Izumo Province to Musashi Province and developed a manor in the 8th century.  He founded Hikawa, or Hi River, Shrine, which is located about 15 kilometers east of Kawagoe and whose 280 branch shrines are located in Musashi Province.  Kannon-ji Temple had Unane-Hikawa Shrine in its precincts.

     All in all, Jikkai could have extensive connections in Musashi Province.

Address: 2 Chome-24-2 Unane, Setagaya City, Tokyo 157-0068

Phone: 03-3416-7852