Virtual Akigawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #6 Kotoku-ji Temple

 

     Shoo the Rich built a hermitage for his wife, Nun Chiun.  Priest Kitetsu changed it to a temple and named it Kotoku-ji in 1373, 5 years after Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the second Kanto Deputy Shogun, suppressed the revolt of Musashi Hei-ikki, or the Musashi Commonwealth.

     In ancient times, there used to be the Musashi Seven Corps. 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 local people there, and many stock farms were set up, including 6 imperial stock farms. The custodians of those farms later formed small-scale would-be-samurai families. By marriage, those would-be-samurai families composed 7 corps on the Musashi Plateaus. The Murayama Corps was one of the 7, and Higashimurayama City was named after the Murayama Corps.

     Then there came the medieval days, the days of samurai. The Musashi Seven Corps basically supported the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, the government by samurai, for samurai, and of samurai. Some corps members climbed up the social ladder through the battles to overthrow the ancient establishment, while others remained half-farmer and half-samurai. Through marriage ties, or by blood, those common half-farmer and half-samurai families formed a provincial common ring or mafia, Musashi Hei-ikki, or the Musashi Commonwealth.

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