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