Virtual Hiki Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Konjo-in Temple

 

     Konjo-in Temple was founded by Priest Shunban (?-1314) in Igusa Village in 1297.

     On April 22nd, 1293, Taira Yoritsuna (1241-1293), the Butler of the Hojo Clan, was killed by his lord, Hojo Sadatoki (1272-1311), in the chaos caused by the Kamakura Earthquake, which itself killed 23,024 people.  Sadatoki replaced Yoritsuna with Hojo Munekata (1278-1305), who belonged to a branch family of the Hojo Clan.  However, Munekata was suspected of having an ambition to become the Regent of the Kamakura Shogunate and was killed by Sadatoki.  Munekata’s child  was put in a cage and was sunk in the sea.  Sadatoki tried to revive the power of the head family of the Hojo Clan.

     In the Middle Ages, samurai’s territories were divided among children, including women, but they were not necessarily equally inherited.  There were many cases in which the male who had the ability to lead the family inherited the main part.  This successor was regarded as the family head.  The remaining territories were divided among the other men and women.  While they lived independently, in times of war, they gathered under the family head to form combat groups in times of war, and participated in ancestral and family rituals sponsored by the family head in peacetime.  What was inflicted by the shogunate and/or manor lords was imposed through the family head.  A family head exercised the authority to maintain and manage family rights documents, as well as inspect the territories of other family members.  For the family head, the power of other family members was indispensable to secure the necessary military strength as a fighting group and to expand the territory by newly developing wilderness, etc.  The Kamakura shogunate controlled samurai in remote provinces through samurai groups under the family head system.  Rewards were also given via the family head.  The family head system was closely related to the system of inheritance at the time.

     In the latter half of the Kamakura period (1185-1333), however, the territories of the samurai groups, which were given as rewards, began to disperse, and the blood relationship between the head family and the other branches became weaker.  Some branch families even became independent and chose their own family head.  In some cases, the family head system became a complicated double or triple structure from the point of view of the shogunate.  In addition, as territories were subdivided, each territory became too narrow to support a samurai family, who was supposed to deliver a samurai and a horse.  As the development of new land became difficult, it also became impossible to expand inherited tiny territories.  Under these circumstances, the family head took steps to re-cencerate divided territories.  One-generation inheritance was even created for the family head to get the dividedly inherited land back.  In opposition to such moves by the family head, branch families applied to the shogunate for recognition of their independence from the family head on the grounds, for example, that they were far away from the family head's location.  Many lawsuits were filed both by the family head and by branch families.  Some branch families tried to become subordinates of the Hojo Clan, the highest authority samurai clan in the shogunate, to eliminate the pressure from the family head, who was a direct vassal of the shogunate.  The confrontation between the family heads and their branch families deepened.

     In 1297, Hojo Sadatoki ordered that retrials should not be accepted and that land should be given back to its original owner.  He tried to re-strengthen the family head system.  What was he worried about when he was the head of the Hojo Clan?  Many branch families of other clans tried to become subordinate to the branch families of the Hojo Clan, which was easier for them, and which deepened the confrontation between the clan head and the branch families.  You reap what you sow?

Address: 830 Kamiigusa, Kawajima, Hiki District, Saitama 350-0152

Phone: 049-297-4378