Virtual Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Omi-do Temple

 

     Empress Ahe (661-721) ordered the compilation of the Topography of Hitachi Province in 713.  Its operation was finished in 721.  In the topography, Mt. Tsukuba was already mentioned as a holy place.

     Tokuitsu studied Yogacara doctrine first at Kofuku-ji Temple, and then at Todai-ji Temple.  He left the capital at the age of 20, and lived in the eastern provinces.  In 782, he founded a shrine in the holy place in Mt. Tsukuba and also founded Chuzen-ji Temple on the hillside, enshrining Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja.  At the turn of the 9th century, the temple was transferred to the Shingon Sect.  In 823, Tsukubasan Shrine was registered as a national shrine.  In 1394, Priest Genkai revived the temple.

     Oyama Masamitsu had 6 sons.  His third son, Tomomitsu (1168-1254), was given Yuki County in Shimousa Province, and started calling his family Yuki.  His grandson, Sukehiro, moved to Shirakawa Manor in Mutsu Province.  That was the start of Shirakawa-Yuki Family.

The Isa Family lived in Isa County, Hitachi Province.  One of their branch families lived in Nakamura in the county, and called themselves Nakamura.  Some members of the families fought brilliantly in the Battle of Ishinazaka in July, 1189, when Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) invaded Mutsu Province.  They were given Idate County in the Mutsu Province, and called themselves Idate.  In the Warring States Period, their family name was mispronounced as Date.

     In 1380, Idate Muneto (1324-1385) in Idate County, Mutsu Province, started invading Nagai County, Dewa Province.  He devised every plot imaginable, and destroyed the Nagai Family in 1385.  The Idate Family became the second most powerful in Mutsu Province after the Shirakawa-Yuki Family.  In 1392, Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the second Kanto Deputy Shogun, was given the authority to control Mutsu and Dewa Provinces by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), the third Shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate in Kyoto.

     It might have been Ujimitsu who economically supported the revival of Chuzen-ji Temple to expand his influence from Kamakura through the Northern Kanto Region to Mutsu Province.

     After the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, Chuzen-ji Temple was abolished on August 27th, 1871.  In 1930, it was revived as a branch temple of Gokoku-ji Temple, and was called Omi-do, namely Big Hall.

Address: 748 Tsukuba, Ibaraki 300-4352

Phone: 029-866-0126

Gokoku-ji Temple

Address: 5 Chome-40-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo City, Tokyo 112-0012