Virtual Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Shofuku-ji Temple

 

     The Tsubuura Family lived in Sashiro Hill in Hitachi Province.  One day, a white pheasant, a white deer, and a white fox led a family member to a holy tree.  He had the tree carved into a thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja statue and founded Shofuku-ji Temple with the statue as its main deity.

     There used to be a big rock at the top of the hill.  It looked like a sack or a bag.  In Japan, Mahakala is supposed to carry a sack or a bag.  The rock was called Mahakala Stone.

     Tokuzo-ji Temple was located in the north of Shofuku-ji Temple, and the 2 temples competed for supremacy.  One day, the warrior monks of Tokuzo-ji Temple attacked Shofuku-ji Temple, and they cornered the warrior monks of Shofuku-ji Temple up on the top of the hill.  Mahakala Stone suddenly rolled down and scattered the warrior monks of Tokuzo-ji Temple away.

     The Shioya Family ruled Shioya County, Shimotsuke Province.  Shioya Tomonari (1174-1248) had 3 sons: Chikatomo (1194-1250), Tokitomo (1204-1265), and Tomosada.  Chikatomo succeeded to Tomonari.  Tomosada became a Buddhist monk and followed Shinran (1173-1263).  Tokitomo moved to Nihari County, Hitachi Province, and occupied Shofuku-ji Temple in 1214.  In 1219, he started ruling Sashiro Hill and its surrounding area.  In 1235, he finished building Kasama Residence in the hill.

     Tokitomo was 178 centimeters tall, and was famous for his valor.  Utsunomiya Yoritsuna (1178-1259) was a samurai and a tanka poet.  He built up the third best community of tanka poetry after those in Kyoto and Kamakura.  When he compiled a collection of tanka poems, he picked 51 of Tokitomo's.

     Tokitomo presented 2 statues of thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja to Shofuku-ji Temple in July, 1253, and another 2 statues of thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja to Sanjusangen-do Temple in Kyoto.  They are known as No. 120 and No. 169 of the temple today.  Of the temple's 1,001 standing statues, the two statues donated by Tokitomo are the only ones whose donors are known in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).

     Eventually, the thousand-armed Sahasrabhuja in Shofuku-ji Temple has become a thousand-armed thousand-eyed eleven-faced Avalokitesvara (Ekadasamukha?) statue.  How did it upgrade or transform itself?

Address: 1056-1 Kasama, Ibaraki 309-1611

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Toku-zo-ji Temple

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Phone: 0296-88-3037