Virtual Tama Aqueduct Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     Nun Shumei revived an abandoned hermitage in Kitano Village in 1890, changed it into a convent, and named it Kannon-ji.

     The Constitution of the Empire of Japan was proclaimed on February 11, 1889, and became in force on November 29, 1890.  In 1868, the medieval city of Edo, seat of the Tokugawa government, was renamed Tokyo.  On May 1st, 1889, Tokyo City was organized with 15 wards in Tokyo Prefecture.  Japan was preparing itself for its modernization.  However, something drove Shumei to help women train with Buddhism.  Or was the convent a shelter?

     Some farmers and peasants of Senkawa Village developed the wilds in the north of the village in the 1670's, when there was a boom of developing Musashino Plateau.  The first boom of developing Musashino Plateau started in the 1650's and lasted 3 decades.  Along the Tama Aqueduct, 17 new villages were developed and 56 new villages were developed along Nobidome Aqueduct, a branch aqueduct of Tama Aqueduct.  In 1695, the new village with 72 households was named Kitano, namely North Wilds.

     In 1810, the Academy of the Tokugawa Shogunate started compiling provincial topographies and chronologies.  Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) participated in compiling those about Musashi and Sagami Provinces. When Kotonobu finished compiling the New Topography and Chronology of Musashi Province in 1830, Kitano Village had no temple, and villagers relied on Shoo-ji Temple, the Tama Aqueduct Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #23, in Sengawa Village.  Even today, there are many supporting families of Shoo-ji Temple in Kitano, Mitaka City, although Shoo-ji Temple is located in Chofu City.

     Then, was the hermitage originally built after 1830?

Address: 4 Chome−7−8 Kitano, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0003

Phone: 03-3300-4552