Virtual Tama Aqueduct Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #30 Daijo-in Temple

 

     Nothing is known about Daijo-in Temple.  As Daijo-zan Zenpuku-ji Temple is located in Setagaya, the temple might have changed its name in 1974, when it was registered.

     Forming religious congregations or lay groups was very popular in the Edo Period.  The Tokugawa Shogunate was also very tolerant and lenient toward the formation of the congregations of authorized Buddhism and Shintoism.

     The believers of Nichiren Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, formed congregations too, which were called Hokkeko, namely Lotus Sutra Congregations.  In 1937, the Soka Educational Society was founded as one of the Lotus Sutra Congregations.  The society was repressed during World War II, and became very active after the war.  Their vigor, however, led to the split of Nichiren Buddhism.  In 1977, the priest of Zenpuku-ji Temple, who was critical of the society, formed the Shoshin Society together with some priests and parishioners.  In 1980, the society was excluded from Nichiren Buddhism, with the compromise that the excluded priests could stay in their temples until their death.  The priest died in 2007, and the temple was returned to Nichiren Buddhism.  In such a chaos, the prehistory of the temple can be hardly traced back.

Zenpuku-ji Temple

Address: 2 Chome-3-21 Seijō, Setagaya City, Tokyo 157-0066

Phone: 03-3416-7950