Virtual Akigawa 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Fuko-ji Temple

 

     Yamashita Goroemon and Kuroyama Tarozaemon founded Fuko-ji Temple, inviting Priest Sonsho (?-1491) from Kogon-ji Temple, in Hoshitake Hamlet, Tokura Village, in 1470, when presumably Komiya Noriaki was still building Tokura Fortress.

      Ashikaga Harutora was born on June 13th, 1394.  At the age of 9, he entered Seiren-in Temple, on June 21st, 1403.  On March 4th, 1408, he became a priest, and was named Gien.  Ashikaga Yoshikazu (1407-1425) and Yoshimochi (1386-1428) died of a disease one after another, and the shogunate became vacant.  Chief vassals assembled at Iwashimizu-Hachiman-gu Shrine and decided the next shogun by lot on January 17th, 1428.  And Gien became the sixth shogun, Yoshinori (1394-1441), who assassinated his political opponents one after another.

     Yoshinori went hunting at the foot of Mt. Fuji in 1432, following the precedents of Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408).  Yamashita Muneuchi accompanied the travel.  Muneuchi made a blunder and didn't go back to Kyoto with Yoshinori.  He came to Musashi Province and settled in Tokura Village.  It was Muneuchi's son, Goroemon, that jointly founded Fuko-ji Temple.

     Generations later, Kuroyama Gisaburo (1833-1912) established the forestry industry in Hoshitake Hamlet and also kept a huge amount of journals, which provide rich information on the development of the modernizing outskirts of Tokyo after the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

     Fuko-ji Temple was abolished in 1870, when the Proclamation of the Great Religion was issued in the name of Emperor Meiji, and Shinto became designated as the state religion of the Japanese Empire.  In 1883, however, the 21 families in Hoshitake jointly revived the temple.

     Yamashita Takatsugu still keeps the family tree of the Yamashita Family.

Address: 1056 Akiruno, Tokyo 190-0173