Virtrual Shinobu Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Kichijo-in Temple

 

     According to tradition, when Gyoki (668-749) visited eastern provinces in the 720's, he stayed in Shobu, where sweet flags, shobu in Japanese, grew in colonies.  He dreamed of Vaisravana and Sri-mahadevi, who told him that many locals had eye diseases and that he should stay there to relieve them.   He carved a Bhaisajyaguru image and enshrined it in a hermitage.  Priest Koban changed the hermitage into a temple, supported by the Kaneda Family of Shobu Fortress, and named it Kichijo-in after Sri-mahadevi's Japanese name.  It is unknown why he chose Sri-mahadevi out of the three.

     When Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) invaded the Kanto Region in 1590, Uesugi Kagekatsu (1555-1623) fought for Hideyoshi.  Kagekatsu invaded the region through Usui Pass in March and reached around Shobu Fortress in May.  They burned Kichijo-in Temple as well.  In 1649, Priest Shin'yu revived it as its 9th priest.

Address: 655 Shobucho Shobu, Kuki, Saitama 346-0106

Phone: 0480-85-0654

Shobu Castle ruins (Ayame Garden) Address: 985-2 Shobucho Niibori, Kuki, Saitama 346-0105