Virtual Tama Aqueduct Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #33 Toun-ji Temple

 

Anju and Zushio

     Iwaki Masauji, the Governor of 56 counties in Mutsu and Dewa Provinces, was exiled to Tsukushi Province due to slander. Masauji's wife and their 2 children, Anju and Zushio were left behind in Dewa Province and fell from grace. They decided to travel to Tsukushi Province to live with Masauji. When they arrived at Naoetsu, Echigo Province, they were captured by Yamaoka Tayu, a human trafficker. Masauji’s wife was sold to Sado Jiro in Sado Island, and his daughter and son were sold to Sansho Tayu, who was the head of Yuraminato, Tango Province, and who was a salt manufacturer. Under Sansho Tayu, Anju and Zushio were exploited and abused. Zushio was forced to mow 3 loads of firewood a day, and Anju was forced to draw 3 loads of seawater a day. Zushio cried at the sickle to cut wood, and Anju cried at the bucket to draw seawater.

     One day, Anju and Zushio tried to escape secretly together, only to be caught. As a punishment, she was hit on the forehead with a burning iron chopstick. However, thanks to their guardian deity, Ksitigarbha, no scar was left.

     Next time, the sister persuaded her brother to escape separately, promising to meet again. Zushio hesitated to leave his older sister, but escaped. After he left, Anju threw herself into the swamp nearby and killed herself. Her body was respectfully buried by the villagers. It was on January the 16th, 1082. Anju was 16 years old and Zushio was 13 years old.

     Zushio, on the other hand, escaped to Kokubun-ji Temple in Tango Province, where he was rescued by a temple priest and sent to Gongen-do Hall in Shichijo Suzaku, Kyoto. Finally, he succeeded in reporting to the Imperial Court the details of his family's downfall. As a result, Masauji's crimes were pardoned, Zushio was given Masauji’s territories. The slanderer's territory was confiscated and was given to Zushio.

     Zushio, who was blessed with the momentum of the Iwaki Family's revival, requested to acquire some land in Tango, Echigo, and Sado Provinces, and was granted. Utilizing those territories as bases, Zushio first went to Tango Province, and rewarded the priest of Kokubun-ji Temple, who had sheltered him in the past. He executed Sansho Tayu and his son, Saburo. In Echigo, he killed Yamaoka Tayu. In the end, Zushio traveled around Sado Island in search of the whereabouts of his long-lost mother. One day, he heard an old woman singing, "I love Anju and Hoyareho. I love Zushio and Hoyareho." Zushio realized that this was his mother, ran up to her, and clung to her.

     This legend, yes legend, spun off many Anju-and-Zushio-related sights, monuments, and as such.

     In 1573, Monk Ichian came from Bizen Province to Wada Village, Tama County, Musashi Province, with the very Ksitigarbha image which guarded Anju and Zushio. Villagers believed his story and built a hermitage for him. The hermitage was called Nembutsu-do. In 1922, the hermitage merged Toun-ji Temple in Shitaya-Iriya-machi, Taito Ward, Tokyo, and called itself Toun-ji.

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