Virtrual Shinobu Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Konzo-in Temple

 

     Konzo-in Temple was founded by Priest Yuen (?-1615) in Tomuro Village, Sakitama County, Musashi Province.  The temple used to have a main hall which enshrined Amitabha and a Kannon-do Hall which enshrined Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha.  In 1945, they changed the Kannon-do Hall into a new main hall which enshrines both the Buddhist images.

     Tomuro Chikahisa was the lord of Kisai Castle in the middle of the 14th century.  It is uncertain whether the Tomuro Family lived in Tomuro Village.

     Sano Mototsuna (?-1238) was a son of Ashikaga Aritsuna (?-1186).  He fought for Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) and contributed to Yoritomo's establishing the Kamakura Shogunate.  Mototsuna's family name was Ashikaga, which was also used by a powerful branch family of the Minamoto Clan, and he started calling his family Sano, using the place name of where he lived.  One of the offspring, Sano Chikatsuna, wasn't the oldest son.  He lived in Tomuro Village, Aso County, Shimotsuke Province, and called his family Tomuro.  4 generations later, Tomuro Chikahisa wasn't the oldest son, and moved to Sakitama County, Musashi Province, and became the lord of Kisai Castle in the middle of the 14th century according to Tahara Zokufu, which was compiled by Sashiya Sahei in November, 1883.  It is unknown whether he was inducted peacefully, by marriage for example, or militarily.

     In ancient times, there used to be the Musashi Seven Corps. The most part of Musashi Province was plateaus deeply covered with volcanic-ash soil, which was suitable for stock farming, not for rice growing. In ancient times, many of the naturalized Silla people then were sent to Musashi Province, and engaged in the stock farming. That stimulated people there, and many stock farms were set up, including 6 imperial stock farms. The custodians of those farms later formed small-scale would-be-samurai families. By marriage, those would-be-samurai families composed 7 corps on the Musashi Plateaus.

     Some say the Seven Corps were the Yokoyama, Inomata, Kodama, Tan, Nishi, Noyo, and Murayama Corps.  Others include Tsuzuki and Kisai Corps, replacing the Noyo and Murayama Corps.

     It is largely believed that the Musashi Seven Corps Genealogy was compiled by the end of the Kamakura Period.  There actually might have been 9 corps, and Kisai Corps were the smallest and weakest corps and its history is almost unknowable.  It is uncertain whether they lived around Kisai Castle, which were built in medieval days.  Some claimed that they used to directly belong to empresses.

     The "bemin system" was a social system in ancient Japan.  It divided the population into bemin and heimin, common people.  The bemin people were governed by the nobility and the heimin people were governed directly by the central government.  Some bemin people were descendants of local leaders and responsible for the royal household's food and security.  Those bemin people who provided food and security to empresses, kisaki in Japanese, were called kisaki-be.

     Kisai Iemori moved presumably from Kisaichi, around Keihan Electric Railway Kisaichi Station, to Musashi Province as an officer, developed a manor, and became the founder of Kisai Corps.

Address: 1019 Tomuro, Kazo, Saitama 347-0116