Virtual Tama Aqueduct Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Keigen-ji Temple

 

     Edo Shigenaga founded Tofuku-ji Temple in March, 1186, where Momiji-yama Hill was built in the Edo Castle later.

     In 1451, Edo Shigekado was taken in by the wicked design of Ota Dokan (1432-1486), and was deceived to move the temple to where it is called Seijo today.  As it burned down, the Edo Family removed the temple to Kitami.  On July 12, 1468, a deluge hit the area, and the temple was rebuilt in its present place.

     In 1540, Priest Kuyo transferred the temple from the Tiantai Sect to the Pure Land Sect, and renamed it Keigen-ji.

     Edo Katsutada (1568-1628) worked and fought for the Later Hojo Clan, and, after the collapse of the clan in 1590, he was employed by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).  As Ieyasu moved to Edo Castle, Katsusada avoided using the family name Edo and started calling his family Kitami.  He was appointed as a magistrate in Sakai in 1618, died in office on December 26, 1628, and was buried in Nanshu-ji Temple there.

     Kitami Katsutada also presented his spear to the temple on August 19, 1626, about 1 year and 4 months before his death.  The Edo Family had first worked and fought for the Kita Clan.  As the Kita Clan had dumped the Kanto Deputy Shogunate for the Later Hojo clan, so had the Edo Family.  After the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan, Katsutada worked for Tokugawa Ieyasu, and, after Ieyasu's death, worked for Ieyasu’s son, Hidetada (1579-1632).  After struggling to survive for decades, peace reigned in the country and over the Edo (Kitami) Family.

     The precincts have an old itabi dated August, 1333.  It’s unreadable whose itabi it is, but, in 1331, Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339) raised an army to overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate, only to be exiled to Oki Island.  In 1333, he escaped from the island, recovered his power, and finally destroyed the shogunate within the year.  The itabi was built when the military situation was changing suddenly and rapidly.  It is unknown which side the builder belonged to, and it is also unknowable whether it was built before his death or after, whether he had a feeling that he would be killed in one of coming battles, or if his family were mourning over his death.     Keigen-ji Temple is also the #4 member tempple of the Tama River 34 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 4 Chome-17-1 Kitami, Setagaya City, Tokyo 157-0067

Phone: 03-3416-1221