Virtual Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Josen-ji Temple

 

     Mt. Maru, which used to be called Mt. Takashino, had a cave in its north-west.  Priest Kakuryo enshrined the statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, in it on March 18th, 1234.

     In 1230 and 1231, the Great Kanki Famine hit Japan.  On June 7th, 1230, it snowed in Musashi Province.  On July 16th, there was frost.  By the spring, 1231, people had eaten up food, and one third of people had died.  In 1232, Hojo Yasutoki (1183-1242), the third Regent of the Kamakura Shogunate, promulgated the Formulary of Adjudications, the legal code of the Kamakura Shogunate, to stabilize the samurai society.  In the summer of 1233, it didn't rain for almost one month.  It was burning hot even in September.  The same dry weather and drought repeated in the next summer too.  It is under dispute whether there was a Nankai Megathrust Earthquake on February 5th, 1234, but the era name was changed from Tenpuku to Bunryaku.

     Centuries later, the Horiuchi Family in Yamada Village invited the statue to its present place.

Address: 1392-1392 Yamada, Chichibu, Saitama 368-0004

Phone: 0494-23-2050