Virtual Akigawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Fudo-do Temple

 

     Fudo-do Temple was founded in Tokura Village, Tama County, Musashi Province, but it was supported by the 50 households of Hongo Village in the same county.

     What was Tokura Village like?

     The most part of Musashi Province was plateaus deeply covered with volcanic-ash soil, which was suitable for stock farming, not for rice growing.  In ancient times, many of the naturalized Silla people then were sent to Musashi Province, and engaged in the stock farming.  That stimulated people there, and many stock farms were set up, including 6 imperial stock farms.  The custodians of those farms later formed small-scale samurai families.  By marriage, those samurai families composed 7 corps on the plateaus in the province: the Musashi Seven Corps.    The Nishi Corps, who were based in the Tama River Valley, was one of the 7.  Part of the corps advanced to the upper reaches of the river, conquering the mountain people there and developing rice fields on the fluvial terraces along the Aki River, one of a branch of the Tama River.  Gradually, they formed the Komiya Family.  In the latter half of the 12th century, Komiya Michitsune officially became the ruler of Akiru Village as the first official head of the family.  When Tsuneyuki was the third head of the family, his 4 brothers were dispatched to Kyushu as manor stewards there. 

     The Komiya Family became a member of the Musashi Shirahata-ikki or the Musashi White-Flag Commonwealth.  Here, the white flag didn't mean surrender but meant their support for the Mitamoto Clan, to which the Ashikaga and Uesugi Clans belonged.  The Minamoto Clan used white flags against red flags of the Taira Clan at the end of the ancient times.  Anyway, after the collapse of Musashi Hei-ikki in 1368, Musashi Shirahata-ikki organized left-over low-ranking samurai of Musashi Heiikki.  Gradually, Musashi Shirahata-ikki was split up into 3 groups geographically at the turn of the 15th century: Joshu-ikki in Kozuke Province, North Bushu-ikki in the northern part of Musashi Province, and South Bushu-ikki in the southern part of Musashi Province, to which the Komiya Family belonged.

     It was documented that Komiya Noriaki presented a bell to Komiya Shrine in 1463.  At the beginning of the Warring States Period (1467-1568), Noriaki built the Tokura Fortress on the east ridge of Mt. Usugi (Hinohara, Nishitama District, Tokyo, Tokyo 190-0200), where Aki River runs out of its gorge into a larger valley.  Fudo-do Temple was built at the foot of the ridge and is located in the precincts of Taketama Shrine.

Taketama Shrine

Address: 414 Tokura, Akiruno, Tokyo 190-0173