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