Virtual Tama Aqueduct Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #4 Saiko-ji Temple

 

     Hase-zan Shoten-in Saiko-ji Temple used to be called just Shoten-in, which was a training center for Japanese mountain ascetics.  It can date back at least to 1427.  Priest Benjo (?-1673) transferred the temple to the Tiantai Sect.  Benjo was the 57th head priest of Shindai-ji Temple.

     The graveyard has 3 old itabi.

     The oldest itabi was built sometime between 1342 and 1345.  Ko Morofuyu (?-1351) assumed the Kanto Butler of the Ashikaga Shogunate and started suppressing the Southern-Court samurai in the Kanto Region in 1338, and brought the region under control by 1343.  The samurai buried under the itabi might have been killed in one of the related battles.

     The second oldest one was built sometime between 1492 and 1501, and the newest one was built sometime between 1504 and 1521.

     In 1488, the full-scale military conflict between the Yamauchi-Uesugi and Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Clans started.  The Uesugi Clan at large had exclusively produced the Regents of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  By 1480’s, their power had exceeded the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  The hegemony they had achieved, ironically enough, split the clan themselves.  To make the matter more complicated, Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519) invaded Izu Province to become a Warring-States-Period hero in 1493.  By that time, Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Clan became inferior to Yamanouchi-Uesugi Clan, and invited Shinkuro to Sagami and Musashi Provinces to fight together.  In 1504, even the Imagawa Clan in Suruga Province entered the war, and blah blah blah.  The newer two were built, in short, at the beginning of the Warring States Period.

     Kondo Isami (1834-1868) was born in Kamiishiwara Village, Musashi Province.  He fought for the Tokugawa Shogunate, and killed many loyalists of the Meiji Restoration Period.  After the collapse of the shogunate, Isami was accused of the murder of Sakamoto Ryoma (1835-1867) and was beheaded on May 17, 1868.  After his execution, his headless body was brought over to Ryugenji Temple at today’s Osawa, Mitaka City, Tokyo Prefecture, by his nephew, Miyagawa Yugoro (1851-1933), and was buried there with his family.  His head was exposed to the public in Kyoto and was buried in Hozo-ji Temple at Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture.  In Saiko-ji Temple, his cenotaph sitting image was built.

     Saiko-ji Temple is also the #3 member temple of the Tama River 34 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 1 Chome−28−3 Kamiishiwara, Chofu, Tokyo 182-0035

Phone: 042-482-3320