Virtual Hiki Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Tosho-ji Temple

 

     Hatakeyama Shigetada (1164-1205) was based in Hatakeyama Village, Obusuma County, Musashi Province, and had another house in Sugaya Village, Hiki County, Musashi Province.

     Banri Shuku (1428-?), a monk of the Chan Buddhism, mentioned Sugaya Village in his travelogues to the Eastern Provinces in Chinese, Baika Mujinzo, namely Inexhaustible Apricot Blossoms, which was finished writing in 1506.

     Chokei-ji Temple was founded near the residence.

     Hojo Tokimasa (1138-1215), the father-in-law of the first Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, cornered Shigetada.  On June 19th, 1205, Shigetada left his hometown, Obusuma, with 130-strong cavalry to answer the emergency call from Kamakura.  When he arrived at the Futamata River, what he faced was an army of tens of thousands strong.  He realized he was trapped.  Instead of retreating, he made up his mind to die with a good grace.  After Shigetada's death, the residence was abandoned and the temple declined.

    Some Buddhist prayers shut themselves up in a Buddhist hall for a thousand days to realize their special wish.  To accept those prayers, Sennichi-do Hall, namely Thousand-Day Hall, was built on the site of Chokei-ji Temple.

     In the 1660's, when the Tokugawa Shogunate ordered all the people to belong to Buddhist temples, the hall was changed into a temple and was named Tosho-ji.

     Sawa (1525-1613), a daughter of Okabe Sadatsuna (1505-1566), married Kawamura Shigetada.  After Shigetada's death, presumably in 1582, she lived in her parents' residence with her 3 or more children.  After the death of the mother of Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632) in 1589, Sawa became Hidetada's nurse.

     One of her sons, Okabe Motokiyo, ruled Sugaya Village after Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to the Kanto Region.  After Sawa's death, Motokiyo enshrined Sawa's personal guardian Buddhist image, Thousand-Armed-Thousand-Eyed Sahasrabhuja, in the village, with it taken care of by his vassal, the Tada Family.

     In 1928, Sugaya Village was hit by a big fire, and the temple building and main deity were all reduced to ashes.  In 1947, a new statue of Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja was installed in a temporary main hall.  In 1987, Hasegawa Sumiko presented Naga Avalokitesvar and Sitting-on-Leaf Avalokitesvar.  Mr. and Mrs. Nakajima Misao presented the copies of 100 Kannon statues of the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, the Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage.  The priest had 36 Avalokitesvara painted on the ceiling of the main hall.

     Why are there more than 6 types of Avalokitesvara: 1) Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, 2) Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha, 3) Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja, 4) Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, 5) Hayagriva , who has the head of a horse, 6) Cundi, who has 16 arms and appears to be female?

     Tosa Hidenobu (?-?) published Butsuzo-zui (Illustrated Compendium of Buddhist Images) in 1783.  In the compendium, he listed 33 popular subjects of Buddhism Avalokiteshvar drawings and paintings: #1 Holding-Willow-Spray Avalokitesvar, #2 Naga Avalokitesvar, #3 Holding-Buddhism-Scripture Avalokitesvar, #4 Halo Avalokitesvar, #5 Sitting-on-Cloud Avalokitesvar, #6 Pandara Vasini Avalokitesvar, #7 Sitting-on-Lotus-leaf Avalokitesvar, #8 Looking-at-Cascade Avalokitesvar, #9 Listening-to-Stream Avalokitesvar, #10 Holding-Fish-Cage Avalokitesvar, #11 Virtuous-Lord Avalokitesvar, #12 Looking-at-Reflected-Moon Avalokitesvar, #13 Sitting-on-Leaf Avalokitesvar, #14 Blue-Head Avalokitesvar, #15 Great-Commander Avalokitesvar, #16 Life-Prolonging Avalokitesvar, #17 Relief-from-Ruination Avalokitesvar, #18 In-Cave-with-Venom Avalokitesvar, #19 Wave-Reduction Avalokitesvar, #20 Anavatapta Avalokitesvar, #21 One-Knee-Drawn-Up Avalokitesvar, #22 Leaf-Robe Avalokitesvar, #23 Holding-Lapis-Lazuli-Censer Avalokitesvar, #24 Tara Avalokitesvar, #25 Sit-in-in-Clam Avalokitesvar, #26 Twenty-Four-Hour Avalokitesvar, #27 Universal-Benevolence Avalokitesvar, #28 Celestial Beauty Avalokitesvar, #29 Putting-Palms-together Avalokitesvar, #30 Controlling-Thunderbolt Avalokitesvar, #31 Peaceful-Vajrapani Avalokitesvar, #32 Holding-Lotus-Flower Avalokitesvar, and #33 Sprinkling-Purified-Water Avalokitesvar.  Some subjects came directly from Lotus Supra Chapter XXV, some were based on folklore in China, and others were created in Japan.  He put stronger emphasis on the number 33, and might have considered the 33 subjects to be artistically more meaningful manifestations of Avalokitesvara, at least in Japan.

     Do you remember how many Avalokitesvara images the temple has?  I wonder if we can check how many types of Avalokitesvara it has.

Address: 11-3 Sugaya, Ranzan, Hiki District, Saitama 355-0221

Phone: 0493-62-2687