Virtual Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Gumyo-ji Temple

 

     Subhakarasimha (637-735) was born in Magadha, India, as the oldest son of Buddhakara.  He ascended to the throne as king when he was thirteen years old.  He, however, turned over his position to his brother and entered the monastic life.  He  settled in Nalanda, where he met the master Dharmagupta.  After several years, Subhakarasimha was told by Dharmagupta to go further east to China to teach Buddhism.

     When Subhakarasimha arrived in China, he was already eighty years old.  Upon his arrival, he became favored by Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) of the Tang Dynasty.  In China, he translated several works of Esoteric Buddhism.  He is believed, in Japan, to have come further east to the country.  He first arrived at Hakata Port in Kyushu.  There he hitchhiked onto a big turtle, which later turned into a big stone.  In 717, he visited Tango Province and put up the statue of Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja.  In 718, he visited Ecchu and Yamato Provinces.  In 720, he visited Kuraki Imperial Manor in Kuraki County, Musashi Province, and found a holy place.  He set 7 boundary stones to designate the sacred area.  Today, you can find them all together within the precincts of Gumyo-ji Temple, although they used to be distributed in and around the precincts.  One of the 7 was named Biryo, the hole which lies at the bottom of the ocean to supply sea water all the time.

     The 735–737 Japanese Smallpox Epidemic caused Gyoki to tour around Japan.  In 737, he built a hermitage in the sacred place set up by Sahasrabhuja, and carved the statue of Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha.  As he chiseled once, he made 3 prayers.

     In 814, Kukai (774-835) visited the sacred place.

     On March 10th, 1044, Priest Koe built a temple in the sacred place, and named it Gumyo-ji.  Scientifically, the main deity, the Ekadasamukha statue, was carved at the time, although it has been largely believed to be the one carved by Gyoki.

     Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651), the third Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, dissolved many clans to strengthen the power of the shogunate.  This increased the number of masterless and jobless samurai and destabilized society.  To re-stabilize society, he strengthened the danka system.  Every citizen was supposed to belong to a Buddhist temple.  In 1631, every temple was to belong to a Buddhist sect or school, and Gumyo-ji Temple came to belong to the Shingon Sect.

     Gumyo-ji Temple is also the #33 member temple of the Yokohama City 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 267 Gumyojicho, Minami Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 232-0067

Phone: 045-711-1231