Virtual Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Ryusho-in Temple

 

     An old monk found a 5-centimeters tall eleven-armed Sahasrabhuja image in Oda River.  He presented it to the Oda Family.  Oda Masaharu founded Ryusho-in Temple in 838 on the south shore of the Katori Sea.

     In Ancient Japan, 6 National Histories were compiled: Nihon Shoki, which covered the mythological period through 697, and whose compilation was completed in 720, Shoku Nihongi, which covered the years 697-791, and whose compilation was completed in 797, Nihon Koki, which covered the years 792-833, and whose compilation was completed in 840, Shoku Nihon Koki, whose compilation was finished in 869, and which covered the years 833–850, Nihon Montoku Tenno Jitsuroku, which covered the years 850-858, and whose compilation was completed in 879, and Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, which covered the years 858-887, and whose compilation was completed in 901.

     According to Shoku Nihon Koki, Kozu Island erupted and its volcanic ashes fell all over the Kanto Region in 838.  The island is formed from a cluster of eighteen lava domes.  The highest of these lava domes, Mt. Tenjo has a height of 571 meters, and it was the mountain that was active in 838.

     About 1 kilometer north of Ryusho-ji Temple, Tone River runs eastward today.  The river is the trace of the Ancient Katori Sea.

     Even in medieval days, salty water washed the shore at the foot of the temple.  The mouth of the Kinu River was about 10 kilometers west, and marshland spread westward for about 30 kilometers from the mouth.  Then there came the Tokugawa Shogunate, who hired Ina Tadaharu (1606-1653) to run the water of the Tone River east in order to save Edo from its floods.  He first stopped the Aino River, a bypass of the Old Tone River.  In 1621, he finished digging a canal to have the Old Tone River flow into the Watarase River, and started separating the Kinu and Kokai Rivers.  In 1629, he had the Ara River flow into the Iruma River, and the New Kinu River started running.  In 1630, the New Kokai River started running.  In 1635, he started building the Edo River and finished it in 1641.  Do you follow what I have said?  I wonder how many people in those days understood his ultimate end.  Finally in 1654, 1 year after his death, the Tone river ran east directly to the Pacific Ocean.

The river water brought earth, sand, and floods to the marshland and the bays, and gradually reclaimed them.  Today, the mouth of the Tone River is over 50 kilometers east from Ryusho-in Temple.

Address: 1196 Namegawa, Narita, Chiba 289-0125

Phone: 0476-96-0217