Virtual Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Sugimoto-dera Temple

 

     In 734, Empress Asukabe (701-760) heard an oracle from Avalokitesvara, “The central rule hasn’t spread to eastern provinces yet.  I wish you to contribute treasure to save  people.”  To establish public order in eastern provinces, she ordered Fujiwara Fusasaki (681-737), who was her brother and a minister, and Gyoki (668-749) to build temples there.  Gyoki enshrined an eleven-faced Ekadasamukha statue in Kamakura.  Its hall came to be called Okura Kannon-do Hall.

     On November 23rd, 1189, the temple burned down, but Monk Jodai rescued the Ekadasamukha statue from the fire and saved it under a Japanese cedar tree.  Thereafter, the temple came to be called Sugimoto-dera, namely, Under Ceder Temple.  In 1191, Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) visited the ruins of the fire, and donated repair expenses.

     Kitabatake Akiie (1318-1338) was appointed to be a chief of the Mutsu Province on August 5th, 1333, and moved there with his expeditionary force on October 10th in the same year. He managed to bring the region under his control by the end of the next year.  He carried out 2 campaigns from the province to Kyoto to restore Imperial rule.

     Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) appointed Ashikaga Ienaga (1321-1338) as the General of Mutsu Province in 1335 to contain Akiie.  Ienaga moved to Shiba County in the province and then called his family Shiba.

     On December 22nd, Akiie left Mutsu Province with a 50,000-strong army to Kyoto to fight against Takauji.  On January 2nd, 1336, Akiie attacked Kamakura, defeated the forces of Ashikaga Yoshiakira (1330-1367), the 3rd son of Takauji, and Momoi Naotsune (?-1376), and occupied Kamakura.  The next day, Akiie left Kamakura and continued to advance to Kyoto.  On January 6th he reached Totomi Province, and, on January 12th, he reached Aichi River in Omi Province.  Akiie's army moved an average of about 40 kilometers a day, running a long distance of 600 kilometers in just half a month.  That was the fastest march in Japan.  Akiie's army crossed Lake Biwa in a day and had an audience with Emperor Godaigo in Sakamoto.  Finally, on January 30th, he defeated Takauji and succeeded in forcing him to leave Kyoto.

     On March 24th, Akiie left Kyoto to return to Mutsu Province.  Ienaga obstructed Akiie but couldn't stop him.

     In his second advance to Kyoto from Mutsu Province, Akiie invaded Kamakura again, and Ienaga, the Regent of the Kamakura Office of the Ashikaga Shogunate, lost to Akiie and killed himself in Sugimoto-dera Temple.

     What happened to Akiie?

     Akiie was, officially speaking, killed by the Northern Court army led by Ko Moronao (?-1351) at the bank of Ishizu River on May 22nd, 1338.  Tradition says Akiie was killed in Abeno on the 16th. Some suggest he was fatally injured in Abeno on the 16th and died somewhere between Abeno and Ishizu by the 22nd.  At least Kitabatake's soldiers retreated to Wada in today's Izumi City temporarily and advanced back to Ishizu on the 22nd.

     In the Abeno area, Kitabatake Park, which has 4 memorial monuments for Akiie, is just a 10-minute walk from Abeno Shrine, which promotes Akiie to attract visitors.  You can find a tiny shallow valley running north-south between the park and the shrine, or between the hills they stand on. The two hills must have been within a battlefield.  Akiie might have occupied either hill top to command a view of the battlefield, Moronao the other. If Akiie had been killed in the Battle of Abeno, he must have been killed somewhere between the hills.

     It was certain Nambu Moroyuki (?-1338), Akiie's right hand, was killed in the Battle of Ishizu on the 22nd.

     Sugimoto-dera Temple is also the #1 member temple of the New Kamakura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 903 Nikaido, Kamakura, Kanagawa 248-0002

Phone: 0467-22-3463