Virtrual Shinobu Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Kannon-ji Temple was founded.  It was revived by Priest Tetsuso (?-1650).  The precincts have Kannon-do Hall, which enshrines Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.  The Cintamanicakra image is the #16 deity of the Shinobu Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and is said to have been the personal guardian Buddhist image of a wife of the lord of Kisai Castle, which was located north of the temple and whose nickname was Negoya Castle.  Negoya is where Kannon-ji Temple is located.  Negoya, namely Sleep Cabin, is a dialectal word which was used in eastern provinces and which referred to samurai's houses at the foot of a mountain castle.  Later, the word came to be used to mention a samurai town around a castle.

     Tomuro Chikahisa was the lord of Kisai Castle in the middle of the 14th century.  At the beginning of the 16th century, Oda Akiie (?-1539) occupied the castle.  He adopted Tomooki, a son of Narita Chikayasu (?-1545).  When Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to the Kanto Region in 1590, Matsudaira Yasushige (1568-1640) moved in.  It wasn't recorded whose wife presented the image to the temple presumably after her death.  As Yasushige was promoted to Kasama, Hitachi Province, in 1601, to Sasayama, Tamba Province, in 1608, and then to Kishiwada, Izumi Province, 1619, it might have been Tomooki's wife who had the image.

     Kisai Castle was seized by Uesugi Kagetora (1530-1578) in 1563.  Some say Tomooki killed himself, some others say he was killed, and the others say he surrendered.  As the Cintamanicakra statue became famous for answering prayers for breeding good horses, the wife's parental family might have been good at breeding horses.

Address: 638-10 Negoya, Kazo, Saitama 347-0104