Virtual Iruhi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Koen-ji Temple

 

     Minamoto Yoshikata (?-1155) moved to the Kanto Region in 1153, and ruled Tago County in Kozuke Province.  Just about 10 kilometers northeast, there lived the Ogikubo Family, who became subject to Yoshikata.  Yoshikata married a daughter of Chichibu Shigetaka (?-1155), and lived in Okura, Hiki County, Musashi Province.  Presumably, the Ogikubo Family followed Yoshikata and lived along the Seto River, a branch of the Toki River.  Yoshikata and Shigetaka, however, were killed in Okura in 1155 by Yoshikata's nephew, Yoshihira (1141-1160).  The Ogikubo Family founded Koen-ji Temple to pray for the comfort of Yoshikata in the other world.

       Halfway up the hill, there is a grave of the nurse of Minamoto Yoshinaka (1154-1184), according to local tradition.  However, Mrs. and Mr. Nakahara Kaneto were Yoshinaka's nurse and her husband, who fled to Shinano Province with Yoshinaka, who was said to have been given birth by a prostitute.  Mr. and Mrs. Nakahara's graves are in Shinano Province, where Yoshinaka grew up.  Then, who was buried under the grave of Yoshinaka's nurse?  She might possibly have been Yoshinaka's biological mother.  Was she a member of the Ogikubo Family?  Or a daughter of the family's servant?  Koen-ji's Ko means brightly or purely white.

Address: 60 Setomotokami, Tokigawa, Hiki District, Saitama 355-0358

Phone: 0493-65-1358

Tago District Warehouse Ruins

Address: Yoshiimachiike, Takasaki, Gunma 370-2107

Ogikubo

Address: Ogikubomachi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-0001