Virtual Hiki Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #4 Jiun-ji Temple

 

     Jiun-ji Temple was founded in Furukori Village, Hiki County, Musashi Province.  As Tokaku-in Temple was founded as a branch of Jiun-ji Temple in 1342, Jiun-ji Temple must have been founded earlier.  Washi Shrine was founded in 1178, inviting the god of Washinomiya Shrine in Saitama County, Musashi Province.  The original Washi Shrine was founded presumably after 927 by Takehiratori, who settled in the county with 27 families, enshrining Takehiratori himself.  Hinatano Shrine had been founded in Kito County, Totomi Province, before 927, enshrining Takehiratori.  The Takehiratori tribe might have moved from the west to the east in the 10th century, and part of their offspring moved or spread to Hiki County in the 12th century.

     The Taira and Minamoto Clans were 2 major military aristocratic clans in Ancient Japan.  Taira Kiyomori (1118-1181) rose quickly to power in the 1160's and dominated the Imperial Court, driving away the Minamoto Clan, who were regarded as the head of samurai.  Accordingly, Kiyomori had his political enemies both among the nobles of the ancien regime and among the up-and-coming samurai.  In 1177, the Shishigatani Conspiracy or Plot was discovered, and its perpetrators arrested and punished before any part of their plan was put into action.  Kiyomori then rebuked Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127-1192), who had been aware of the plot, seized a number of mansions belonging to the Fujiwara Clan, and dismissed a number of officials from office.  He then filled the vacated Imperial Court positions with members of the Taira Clan.  That rather reduced and narrowed his support base and made the dispute  with samurai more violent.  Furugori was developed, and Furugori-Washi Shrine was founded in those days.  Finally, in 1180, Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) raised his army against the Taira Clan, or against the ancient administration.

     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 in 1335 and in 1338 to restore Imperial rule.

     After the first advance, Mutsu Province became unstable and Akiie had to abandon the provincial government office in Taga Castle and move to Ryozen Castle in steep mountains for the sake of defense.  He couldn't prepare enough provisions.

     In the second advance, according to the Taiheiki, Chronicle of Great Peace, Akiie's army marched while carrying out thorough looting, and after they passed through, there was no vegetation left, let alone a house.  As Akiie fought in Kami County, the north-western tip of Musashi Province, he probably crossed the Tone River from Nawa County in Kozuke Province to Kami County and marched through Hiki County almost for certain.

     The Taiheiki, Chronicle of Great Peace, is a Japanese historical epic written  and compiled in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367, when battles and wars occurred one after another.

     The Furukori villagers had a good reason to have a temple in the 1330's and another thereafter.

     Takehiratori's offspring might have accepted Buddhism in the 14th century, enshrining Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha.

     In 1969, Jiun-ji Temple merged into Tokaku-in Temple.

Tokaku-in Temple

Address: 536-1 Furukori, Higashimatsuyama, Saitama 355-0035

Phone: 0493-22-2165

Washi Shrine

Address: 499 Furukori, Higashimatsuyama, Saitama 355-0035

Washinomiya Shrine

Address: 1 Chome-6-1 Washinomiya, Kuki, Saitama 340-0217

Phone: 0480-58-0434

Hinatano Shrine

Address: 837 Kamihijikata Ochiai, Kakegawa, Shizuoka 437-1431