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