Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Kannon-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Kannon-in Temple was founded in Hinotsume Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  It is also unknown if it was really a temple.  Some say its main deity was Cundi, who has 16 arms and appears to be female, and others say its main deity was Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  The answer is unknowable as the Buddhist image has been stolen.

     The Hinotsume area used to be a part of Kawataya Village until the 1640's.  The area was developed by the Nagashima Family alone.  They invited Hikawa Shrine.  Kannon-in Temple might have been its shrine temple.  The area was recorded as an independent village in 1702.  When Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) compiled the New Topography and Chronology of Musashi Province at the beginning of the 19th century, Hinotsume Village had 33 families.

     The Kumanojinja Burial Mound is a circular burial mound, measuring 40 meters in diameter, 6 meters in height and with a moat 13 meters in width.  Judging from the excavated items, it is estimated to have been built around the 4th century.  The number of excavated items is large, and many of them are extremely rare in eastern Japan, and they have similarities to those found in the Kansai Region.  So, the person who was buried might have come from the central part of Japan to an island in the Old Greater Tokyo Bay to build a bridgehead or a beachhead to invade the Kanto Region.  It seems the ruling classes in central Japan were busy sending their troops to the east and the west in those days.

     According to the Gwanggaeto Stele, which is a memorial stele for the tomb of Gwanggaeto the Great (374-412) of Goguryeo, erected in 414 by his son Jangsu (394-491):

     In 399, Baekje broke previous promise and allied with Wa. Gwanggaeto advanced to Pyongyang. There he saw Silla's messenger who told him that many Wa troops were crossing the border to invade and make Silla's king a vassal of Wa, and so asked Goguryeo for help. As Silla swore to be Goguryeo's subject, the King agreed to save them.

     In 400, the King sent 50,000 troops to save Silla. Wa's troops retreated just before the Goguryeo troops reached the Silla capital. They chased the Wa forces to a castle in Imna Gaya.  The Wa troops in the castle soon surrendered.

     In 404, Wa unexpectedly invaded the southern border at Daifang.  The King led troops from Pyongyang to prevail. Wa troops collapsed with enormous casualties.

     Just to the north of Shimousa Province, there used to lie an orifice of a big inland sea, Katori Sea.  On the peninsula between Katori Sea and the Pacific Ocean, there stood Kashima Shrine.  On the southern coast of Katori Sea, there stood Katori Shrine.

Kashima Shrine was officially considered and actually worked as the gateway to invade the Tohoku Region, the northeastern part of Honshu, which was later called Mutsu Province, or to subdue and rule Emishi, who were not subject to the imperial central government.

Katori Shrine used to be the gateway to the Kanto Plain, and governed the water transportation on Katori Sea.  Scatters of medieval documents suggest that the shrine even put up some checkpoints along the rivers and collected tolls and taxes, which, in Western Japan, pirates along the Seto Inland Sea did.  That is, Katori Shrine used to be a semi-governmental pirate.  It has always been difficult to draw the line between state-run navies and private pirates.

     Kashima Shrine is supposed to have been founded by the end of the 8th century, about 4 centuries after the building of Kumanojinja Burial Mound.  In other words, it took the Japanese rulers about 4 centuries to network their bridgeheads and beachheads and to choose one to be their stronghold in the Kanto Plain.

Address: 17 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Hinotsume-Hikawa Shrine

Address: 215 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Kumanojinja Burial Mound

Address: 348 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Saiko-ji Temple

 

     Sempuku-ji Temple had 2 branches in its precincts: Saiko-ji Temple and Toko-ji Temple, namely West Light Temple and East Light Temple.  As Toko-ji Temple is located about 2 kilometers east of Sempuku-ji Temple, Saiko-ji Temple might have been located about 2 kilometers west of Sempuku-ji Temple, where the old waterway of the New Ara River ran. Saiko-ji Temple might have been lost in floods or the construction of the New Ara River.

     Ina Tadaharu (1606-1653) changed the watercourse of the Old Ara, Old Tone, and Old Watarase Rivers under the Tokugawa Shogunate.   To save Edo from floods, Ina Tadaharu first stopped the Aino River, which was a bypass of the Old Tone River.  In 1621, he finished digging a canal to make the Old Tone River flow into the Watarase River, and started separating the Kinu and Kobai Rivers.  In 1629, he made the Old Ara River flow into the Iruma River, and the New Kinu River started running.  In 1630, the New Kobai River started running.  In 1635, he started building the Edo River and finished it in 1641.  Do you follow what I have said?  I wonder how many people understood his ultimate end.  Finally in 1654, 1 year after his death, the New Tone river ran east directly to the Pacific Ocean.

     When Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) compiled the New Topography and Chronology of Musashi Province at the beginning of the 19th century, Saiko-ji Temple had been already abolished, with Shinmi-do-Hall left about 1 kilometer east of Sempuku-ji Temple.  Later, Toko-ji merged Saiko-ji.

Shinmi-do Hall

Address: 1171-1 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Toko-ji Temple

Address: 1176 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Phone: 048-787-0615

Sempuku-ji Temple

Address: 2012 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Phone: 048-787-0206

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Miroku-in Temple

 

     Miroku-in Temple's history is unknown.  It doesn't have its graveyard.  Its main deity is Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha.  There are 2 Horse-Headed Hayagriva statues around the temple.

Address: 3394 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Mitsugon-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Mitsugon-in Temple was founded in Fujinami Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  It belonged to the Shingon School first, but Priest Shukuetsu (?-1535) changed it to the Linji School of Chan sometime between 1492 and 1501, supported by Ota Sukeie (?-1522).  Shukuetsu was an uncle of Sukeie.  The Fujinami Family lived in Fujinami Village.  A letter dated April 5th, 1585, from Hojo Ujimasa (1538-1590) to Fujinami Yogoemon is still kept in the temple.

     Mitsugon-ji Temple enshrines 2 types of Avalokitesvara statues.  One is its main deity, Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  The other is enshrined in a Kannon-do Hall in its precincts: Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.  In 1342, in the midst of the Southern and Northern Courts Period, in the time of upheavals, Shinohara Zusho found a head of Cintamanicakra in a nearby wild field.  He invited a good sculptor of Buddhist images and had him carve a body for the head.  Zusho also built a small hermitage and enshrined the statue in it.

     The Southern and Northern Period (1336-1392) witnessed not only upheavals but also the fundamental changes of Japanese society.  In terms of agriculture, rice yields had risen due to increased usage of fertilizer, the diversification of rice, and the development of irrigation facilities.  In addition, the double cropping that had been introduced in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) became widespread, resulting in a remarkable increase in productivity.  In this way, food production became sufficient, and it became possible to produce many raw material crops such as ramie (for making thread), cotton, and perilla (for oil).

     In terms of commerce and industry, due to the increased productivity of the raw material crops mentioned above, blinds, straw mats, oil, and somen noodles became available to the public.  In terms of economy, along with the above-mentioned improvements in the commercial and industrial aspects, a monetary economy has spread to the general public.  In addition, the Yuan Dynasty conquered the Southern Song Dynasty in China in the 1270's, and the dynasty spread the usage of kosho (a type of banknote), so a large amount of surplus copper coins which had been made in Song China flooded into Japan.  The circulation of money due to the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty led to the further development of commerce and industry.  In 1200, money was used in less than 20% of land purchases, but in 1250, it exceeded 50%, and in 1320, it exceeded 75%.  The popularization of copper coins also led to the spread of paper-based bills such as tallies.

     Later, the hermitage was moved to Mitsugon-in Temple's precincts, with its place name Nyoirin-bara, namely Chintamani Field, left in its old place.  Even today, a street in Fujinami uses it as a nickname.

     Generations later, Shinoda Kin'emon, who was the head of the village, and who was a safflower maker, started Mochitsuki-Odori, Pounding Rice Cakes Dancing, to halt young villagers from gambling. I don't know if his original intention was realized, but the dancing has been passed down.

https://ageobunkaisan.jp/mukei/10fujinamimochi.html

     Safflower petals contain a red dye.  In coloring textiles, dried safflower flowers are used as a natural dye source for the orange-red pigment.  The dye is suitable for cotton, which takes up the red dye.  In Japan, dyers have long utilized a technique of producing a bright red to orange-red dye from the dried florets of safflower.

Address: 2 Chome−196-1 Fujinami, Ageo, Saitama 362-0061

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #19 Muryo-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Muryo-in Temple was founded in Kawataya Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  It doesn't have its jigo, and it wasn't recorded when Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) compiled the New Topography and Chronology of Musashi Province at the beginning of the 19th century.  The temple seems to be an office of its graveyard.  The temple is located near the Takejo Site and is managed by Sempuku-ji Temple nearby.

     What is the Takejo Site, or what was Take Fortress?

     Fujiwara Tokane was a guard of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto at the end of the ancient times.  He left Kyoto for the Kanto Region for a better job or better income.  He married a daughter of Toshima Yasuie, who gave his daughter part of Adachi County in Musashi Province.  The Toshima Family was a branch of the Kodama Corps.  Tokane's son, Tomoto, who is supposed to have been born in the first half of the 1130's, lived in Adachi County, and called his family Adachi.

     Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) raised his army in Izu Province to put an end to the aristocracy and to realize the age of the samurai in August, 1180.  He lost his first battle and fled to Awa Province.  In September, he struck back through Shimousa Province and advanced to Musashi Province on October 2nd.  Tomoto was one of a few samurai who first welcomed him.  After Yoritomo entered Kamakura on the 8th, Tomoto became the first samurai in the Kanto Region that was authorized the ownership of his own territory.  He was one of a few Eastern samurai who had knowledge of civil service.

     Tomoto is supposed to have built one of his fortresses in Kawataya.  The site is located near Muryo-in Temple, and its graveyard might have functioned as a burial ground for those who lived and died around the fortress.

     Who was the Toshima Family who provided some land to Tokane?

     Arimichi Koreyoshi was a subject of Fijiwara Korechika (974-1010), who lost to his uncle, Fujiwara Michinaga (966-1028), in political strife.  When he died on January 28th in despair, he said to his son, Michimasa (992-1054), "You should become a priest rather than follow others."  He also told his 2 daughters never to humiliate him by serving in the Imperial Court.

     Koreyoshi might have eavesdropped on their conversation and kind of followed Korechika's advice.  Or did he exercise his frontier spirit?  After Korechika's downfall, Koreyoshi left Kyoto down to Musashi Province.

     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 samurai families.  By marriage, those samurai families composed corps on the plateaus in the province: Yokoyama, Inomata, Murayama, Noyo, Tan, and Nishi Corps.

     Somehow or other, Koreyoshi's son, Koreyuki (?-1069), succeeded in organizing another corp, Kodama Corps.  He seems to have been involved in the management of the Aguhara Stock Farm.  In 933, the Aguhara Stock Farm was nationalized.  It is unknown whether Koreyoshi or Koreyuki was dispatched to the stock farm as a local administrator or married into a local powerful family who actually ran the farm.  The number of Royal Stock Farms in Musashi Province increased from 4 to 6, and the number of annual tax horses increased from 50 to 110 accordingly.  Judging from the mean value, the Aguhara Stock Farm provided 30 horses to Kyoto every year.  Anyway, Koreyoshi and/or Koreyuki developed paddy fields in Kodama County, and became their owner.

     Kodama Corps had 100 branches including those with different Chinese characters with the same pronunciation: Kodama, Sho, Honjo, Asaba, Asami, Shinjo, Araya, Izumi, Sakaki, Inajima,  Nissai, Iwata, Ise, Imai, Urakami, Kozuke, Okawara, Osawa, Otsuka, Orui, Obuchi, Ohama, Oku, Okudaira, Okutsuka, Okazaki, Obata, Ogawara, Omino, Katayama, Kanesawa, Kashiwajima, Katsura, Kashiwazaki, Kita, Kuroiwa, Kurisu, Aoda, Kuragano, Kugezuka, Gugezuka, Gokan, Shodai,Konakayama, Koma, Shioya, Shimana, Shimakata, Shirakura, Komoda, Omoda, E, Edouchi, Ogose, Shimana, Takao, Takayama, Tako, Takezawa, Tachikawa, Hata, Chichibu, Tomita, Tomino, Toshima, Torikata, Yoshiasano, Naoshita, Nakajo, Nagatsuka, Nagaoka, Naruse, Nagura, Naito, Nishi, Niwa, Fukuda, Yasuo, Horikago, Hirukawa, Makino, Mashimo, Miyata, Mizokami, Mina, Musha, Makishi, Yajima, Yamada, Yamakoshi, Yamana, Hitoyoshi, Yoshizumi, Yoshijima, Yoshida, Yomota, and Shioten Families.

     Sempuku-ji Temple is the oldest religious institution in Kawataya.  It was founded in 829 by Ennin (794-864).

     Ennin was born into the Mibu Family in Shimotsuke Province, which was located just north of Musashi Province.  As many of the displaced Silla people had been moved to the Kanto Region, he might have some connection not only with them but also with those in their homeland through them.  Ennin went to Kyoto to study Buddhism in 808.  When Ennin made his study trip to Tang China from 838 to 847, support from Silla people, including those who were related with Jang Bogo (787-846), was enormous. For example, Ennin was helped by Silla people living in Chishan to keep staying in Tang, half-illegally though. He stayed in Chishan Fahua Temple, which had been founded by Jang Bogo. Ennin had trouble coming back to Japan too, but, somehow or other, got into Silla trader’s ship. He sailed back to Hakata Port on September 19th, 847.  He is believed to have founded 209 temples in the Kanto Region and 331 in the Tohoku Region.  On April 3rd, 854, he was appointed to be the head priest of Enryaku-ji Temple, and died on January 14th, 864.  Is 16 years long enough to found all the 540 temples?

     Legend has it that Ennin founded Sempuku-ji Temple as one of the 540 in 829.  In those days, the Kawataya area was still covered with seawater at large.  There could have been a small sandbar island in which a few people could live.  They might have brought an image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  Their offspring might have been caught in the battles between the Taira and Minamoto Clans at the end of the ancient times.  The medieval days or samurai's days came, and Priest Shinson came to the Kawataya area, which had become swamps with some levees, from Enryaku-ji Temple to spread Tiantai Buddhism in the Kanto Region.  He heard of hundreds of legends and traditions that these and those temples were founded by Ennin, Shinson's religious forefather, and added another legend to decorate the temple he actually founded on a levee.  From where do you think the story became true-life?

Address: 5842 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

The Takejo Site

Address: 5811-30 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Sempuku-ji Temple

Address: 2012 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Phone: 048-787-0206

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Fumon-ji Temple

 

     An island was formed in the estuary of the Ichino, Ara, and Iruma Rivers.  The island was named Kawajima, namely River Island.  In the end of the rivers, another land was formed.  The land was developed presumably during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), and was named Kawataya, namely River End Land.  The place name was first documented in the Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392).  Suwa Shrine was invited to Kawataya, and Fumon-ji Temple was founded as its shrine temple presumably under the Tokugawa Shogunate.

     The temple keeps the skull of Minamoto Noriyori (1150-1193), according to tradition.  Noriyori was a brother of Yoritomo (1147-1199), who established the Kamakura Shogunate.

In May, 1193, when Yoritomo held a grand hunt on Mt. Fuji, an incident occurred in which two brothers of the Soga Family killed an enemy of their father.  A rumor spread that Yoritomo was drawn into the fight and was killed.  Yoritomo's wife was worried, and Noriyori comforted her, assuring her that even if Yoritomo were killed, he would be there for her and for the clan.  Yoritomo wasn't involved and was alive.  Listening to Yorinori's words later, Yoritomo suspected Yorinori of his ambition to be a shogun and confined Noriyori to Izu Province on August 17th.  No sequel to the incident was documented in an official record.

Address: 6663 Kawataya, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0027

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Arai-Kannon-do Temple

 

     It is unknown when Arai-Kannon-do Temple was founded.  It enshrines Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha in Senju-do Hall.  Senju means thousand-armed.  Avalokitesvara with 1000 arms is called Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja not Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha.  Mmm, it's a mystery.

     Anyway, the statue is known as Miso-Kannon, namely Soybean-Paste Avalokitesvara, and has earned faith from brewers in their broad sense.  A picture tablet of sake brewing, for example, was presented to the temple in 1768.  If you brew home-made soybean paste, you should get it blessed at the temple.

Address: 1 Chome-336 Arai, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-0026

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Myoon-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Myoon-ji Temple was founded in Takao Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  It has its graveyard but wasn't registered as a temple under the Tokugawa Shogunate.  As Hikawa Shrine was invited to Takao in 1473, the village could have been developed in those days.

     The Kyotoku War lasted for 28 years from 1454 to 1482.  During the war, Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438-1497), the Kanto Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, relinquished Kamakura and moved to Koga in 1457.  In 1458, the Muromachi Shogunate sent out another deputy shogun, Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491), from Kyoto for Kamakura, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura and stayed in Horikoshi, Izu Province.  From then on, there were a Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun and a Horikoshi Kanto Deputy Shogun, who was supported by the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, in the Kanto Region.  On October 14, 1459, the 2 camps had a big battle in Ota Manor, Musashi Province. That was the start of the Warring States Period in the region.

     Although Shigeuji was driven out of Kamakura by the Uesugi Clan, he launched a counterattack from Koga in Shimousa Province.  The Kanto Region was effectively divided into the east of the Old Tone River, which was ruled by the Uesugi Clan, and the west of the river, which was ruled by a Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun.  In the northern Kanto region, the Koga's side pressed against the Uesugi Clan's stronghold, Kozuke Province from the direction of Shimotsuke Province, and in the southern Kanto region, the Uesugi's side pressed on the Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun's stronghold, Shimousa Province, from the direction of Musashi Province.  Controlling the middle Tone River basin was extremely important in terms of alleviating the military pressure of the enemy camp for both sides.  The newly developed rice fields between the Old Tone and Old Ara Rivers could have been desired by both sides.

     At the beginning of the 1570's in particular, the Chiba, the Koyama, and the Yuki Families on the Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun's side invaded Izu in 1571, and a Horikoshi Kanto Deputy Shogun was defeated in Mishima.  The Uesugi Clan's side departed for Koga to make good use of the absence of the main force of the Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun's side.  The Uesugi's side surrendered castles in Shimotsuke Province.  However, in the following year, A Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun recaptured Koga Castle, which lay just about 20 kilometers north-east of Konosu.

     Takao Village was developed in a time when samurai fought battle after battle.  Which came first: the chicken or the egg?  Was the development the egg or the chicken?

Address: 6 Chome-107 Takao, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-0034

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Myoraku-ji Temple

 

     Myoraku-ji Temple is said to have been founded by Priest Ehan, who was the priest of Meigetsu-in Temple in Kamakura, in Mamuro Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, sometime between 1394 and 1427 to pray for the comfort of Uesugi Norikata (1335-1394), who was the 5th head of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi Family and who was the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  Before he died, Norikata founded Meigetsu-in Temple in Kamakura, and he was buried there.  Who supported the foundation of another temple for him in Konosu?  It's just unknowable.  His wife's name wasn't recorded.  If they had married for convenience, his father-in-law's name should have been recorded.  Her grave is said to be located in Meigetsu-in Temple too.  

The mystery remains a mystery.  The answer to the question might have something to do with her birth.  It might be fancy to daydream it was Norikata's wife who actually founded Myoraku-ji Temple in her hometown, since the Nagao Family, vassals of the Uesugi Family, expanded their power as they produced a number of wives of their employers.  In medieval times, it was said that having children is a woman's battle.  Did she win her battles?

     The main daity of Myoraku-ji Temple is Shogun-Jizo, a Buddhist version of Atago Gongen.  Shogun-Jizo is armed Ksitigarbha on a warhorse.  The dieity wa loved by samurai.  Its Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 deity is Horse-Headed Hayagriva.  How much did Norikata love horses!  Or was it Norikata’s wife who loved horses?  Or was it horses that loved Noritaka and his wife?  Mamuro literally means Horse House.

Address: 2965-2 Haramamuro, Konosu, Saitama 365-0043

Phone: 048-543-1257

Meigetsu-in Temple

Address: 189 Yamanouchi, Kamakura, Kanagawa 247-0062

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Fukai-ji Temple

 

     A long time ago, there was a big tree called the King of the Forest, and people used to make offerings to escape the troubles of the King.  If people stopped offering, a curse would inevitably occur.  People trembled with fear.  One day, a stork flew in, built a nest in the branch of this tree, laid eggs, and began to raise them.  Then a giant snake appeared and tried to swallow the eggs.  In response, the stork boldly challenged the snake and repulsed it.  After that, the King no longer caused harm.  People built a shrine near the tree and called it Konosu Myojin, namely Stork Nest God, and the area came to be called Konosu.

     In cases like this in Japan, people with a totem of stork came to the area, cut big trees, developed the area, and liberated tree people.  Or ruled them?  Even today, liberation is a metaphor of invasion and occupation.  Anyway, the holy place came to be called Miyachi, namely Shrine Land.

     Later, Konosu people invited other gods one after another as they liked, instead of advancing their totem, stork, to the divinity: an irrigation god from Hikawa, an anti-thunderstorm god from Raiden, a mountain god from Hie, a Tokugawa Ieyasu from Tosho-gu, a business god from Inari, and a samurai god from Yawata Shrines.  Kageyoshi, for example, made a pilgrimage to Kumano Shrines in Kii Province, brought back their earth and sand, and buried them in Konosu, founding another Kumano Shrine.  They all enshrined those gods in their own lands.  Besides gods, a Fukai Family invited Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha to their land in Miyachi.  After the Meiji Restoration, all the gods in Konosu were brought together into Ko Shrine.  What happened to Ekadasamukha in Miyachi?  Nobody knows.  It has gone with Fukai-ji Temple, if it had been really a temple.

Address: 3 Chome-3-69 Miyaji, Konosu, Saitama 365-0075

Ko Shrine

Address: 1-9 Honmiyacho, Konosu, Saitama 365-0076

Phone: 048-542-7293

Trees In the Town

A Large-Scale Warring-States-Period Romance (revised)

      In 1538, an Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun and a Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun clashed against each other in Konodai, Shimousa Province. The Oyumi Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki (?-1538), was killed in battle, and Koga’s side won.

     Yoshiaki's first son, Yoshizumi (?-1538), was also killed in battle, and Yoshiaki's younger children fled to Awa Province, counting on the protection of Satomi Yoshitaka (1507-1574).  It was during those days that Yoshiaki’s first daughter and Yoshitaka’s first son, Yoshihiro (1530-1578), met.  Later, however, Yoshiaki's second and third sons were sent to Sekido-ji Temple in Kazusa Province and his 3 daughters were sent to Taihei-ji Temple in Kamakura.  They became under the patronage, or the supervision, of the Later Hojo Clan, who proved their superiority in the Battle of Konodai.

     At the age of 8 or 9, Yoshihiro was determined.

     After coming of age, Yoshihiro kept fighting fiercely and aggressively against the Later Hojo Clan.  He continued fighting for some 18 years. Finally, in 1556, he succeeded in intruding into Kamakura temporarily.

     Ashikaga Yoshiaki’s first daughter, who was Nun Shogaku (?-1576?) when Yoshihiro invaded Kamakura, had been determined too.  With her noble bloodline as a young lady of the Ashikaga Shogunate Clan, she could have married a son of a powerful family as her younger sister did.  The younger sister married Uesugi Norihiro (?-1551), the Butler or Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  Instead, Shogaku became a nun at Taihei-ji Temple. 

     When they saw each other after nearly 2 decades, Yoshihiro was 26 years old, and Shogaku might have been as old as or a little older than him.  Yoshihiro asked Shogaku to come back to Awa Province, and she accepted his proposal.  Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571), the then head of the Later Hojo Clan, criticized their attempt as “incomprehensible” but all he could do was destroy Taihei-ji Temple to let off his steam.

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Jumyo-in Temple

 

     Jumyo-in Temple's precincts could have been a holy place in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).  The precincts have 2 itabi dated 1251 and 1267.  Jimyo-in Hermitage was founded by Monk Enshun sometime between 1469 and 1487.  Fukai Kagetaka (?-1533) changed the hermitage into a temple.

     Who were the Fukai Family?

     The Later Three-Year War was fought in the northeastern part of Japan in the late 1080s.  It was a kind of internal strife within the Kiyohara Clan.  First, Kiyohara Iehira (?-1087) and Kiyohira (1056-1128) fought against Sanehira (?-1083).  After Sanehira’s death, Iehira clashed against Kiyohira.  From the central government, Minamoto Yoshiie (1039-1106) intervened in the conflict.  The intervention brought victory to Kiyohira.  In the war, Kamakura Kagemasa fought for Yoshiie brilliantly at the age of 16.  In a battle, Chokai Yosaburo shot Kagemasa’s right eye.  Not wavering, Kagemasa shot Yosaburo back dead.  In Yoshiie’s camp, Kagemasa was suffering with the arrow in his right eye.  His comrade, Miura Tametsugu, ran up to Kagemasa and stepped on his face to pull out the arrow.  Kagemasa got furious and slashed at Tametsugu, saying, “A samurai would be satisfied if he died with an arrow wound.  But it’s humiliation to be stepped on the face.” Later, he developed Oba Manor in Koza County, Sagami Province.  One of his offspring, Kagehiro, lived in Nagao Manor, Kamakura County, Sagami Province, and called his family Nagao.

     On June 5th, 1247, when Miura Yasumura (1184-1247) lost to the Hojo Clan, he and 500 of his family members, relatives, and subjects committed suicide in the Old Kamakura 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #8 Hokke-do Temple.  The Nagao Family was almost completely destroyed in the incident.  A few survived.  When Prince Munetaka (1242-1274) became the 6th Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1252, the Uesugi Family followed him.  The offspring of the Nagao Family's survivors became subject to the family.

     The Kamakura Shogunate or the dictatorship of the Hojo Clan was destroyed in 1333.  Under the Ashikaga Shogunate in Kyoto, the Kanto Deputy Shogunate was established in 1349, and Uesugi Noriaki (1306-1368) became the first Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  That was the start of the Nagao Family's good luck.  As the Uesugi Family spread their power across the Kanto Region, the Nagao Family's branches spread across the region.

     Nagao Kagetaka (?-1533) was born in Fukai Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, and called his family Fukai.  He was killed in battle at Konosu in 1533 at the age of 21, and was buried in Jimyo-in Temple.  His son, Kageyoshi, was ranked with Kato Muneyasu and Oike Hisamune as a warrior in Konosu.  He was also buried in the temple.

     When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved in to the Kanto Region, Matsudaira Tadayoshi (1580-1607) became the lord of Oshi Castle and Kageyoshi became subject to Tadayoshi, who changed the temple's name to Jumyo-in.  When Tadayoshi was promoted to Owari Province, Kageyoshi's third son, Sukekatsu, followed Tadayoshi but Kageyoshi didn't.  Some other family members stayed in Fukai and became farmers.

Address: 4 Chome−55 Fukai, Kitamoto, Saitama, 364-0001

Phone: 048-541-1635

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Nyoi-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Joraku-ji Temple was founded in Furuichiba Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  The temple enshrined the statue of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.  The statue was listed as the #12 deity of the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage in 1702.  The temple was discontinued before Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) compiled the New Topography and Chronology of Musashi Province at the beginning of the 19th century.  When he did field work in Furuichiba, he found Joraku-ji Temple in ruins.  As every family was ordered to belong to a temple by the Tokugawa Shogunate, the discontinuation of the temple meant the discontinuation of a group of families in the village.  What happened before the 19th century?

     In 1742, a super-typhoon made landfall at Osaka and hit Edo.  Its storm hit the provinces between Osaka and Edo, causing many rivers to flood.  Along the Chikuma River alone, more than 200 tons of water was estimated to have flooded.  It started raining in Edo on July 28th, and the typhoon hit Edo on August 1st.  At dawn on the 2nd, downtowns were flooded.  The water level downed in a day.  On the 3rd, however, a gigantic amount of water and earth was carried down from the upper streams of the Old Tone, Old Ara, and Tama Rivers.  The Old Tone River flooded in Maiki, Akaiwa, Kitagawara, and Shinkawatori, and its water even washed down parts of Sekiyado Castle.  Over 900 people were drowned to death in the downtowns of Edo.  The water levels kept rising till the 7th.  It is said that the development of new rice fields along the rivers had narrowed the rivers and worsened the floods.  Part of Furuichiba Village might have been lost in the floods.

     When the temple was abolished, the statue was moved to Nyoi-ji Temple in the same village.

     It is unknown when Nyoi-ji Temple was founded.  Its main deity was Acalanatha.  The temple was abolished in 1873, and its Cintamanicakra statue and graveyard are taken care of in private.

Address: ２−32 Furuichiba, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-0003

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #11 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     Kannon-ji Temple was founded by Kato Yoshifuji in Nakamaru Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, sometime between 1592 and 1595.  It means its foundation was after the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan in 1590.  Presumably, the Kato Family became farmers and Yoshifuji founded a temple, despairing of life and feeling empty.  His offspring still live in Nakamaru, maintaining the #11 deity of the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, although the temple has been abolished.  Individual glory might be fleeting, but inheriting life isn't so fragile.

     The Oike Family lived in Oike Village, Hidaka County, Kii Province.  When Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519) came from Kyoto to Suruga Province in 1469 to make a warring-state-period hero, a member of the Oike Family followed him.  In the 1540's, Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571) invaded the north-eastern area of Musashi Province.  In 1551, Ujiyasu ordered Oike Hisamune to advance to the area as a farmer-soldier.  Hisamune developed the Konosu area, built the Konosu Fortress, and became the lord of the area and the fortress. In 1558, Ujiyasu deployed 30000-strong forces and destroyed the Uesugi Clan.  Hisamune might have been one of the 30000 samurai.  One of Hisamune's sons, Muneyasu, was adopted by the Kato Family in Nakamaru.  The Oike Family steadily expanded their power.  However, an earth-shaking incident for the family happened in 1590.  The Later Hojo Clan was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved into the Kanto Region.  The Oike Family became farmers.  In 1593, Oike Hayatonosuke was ordered by Ina Tadatsugu (1550-1610) to rebuild the fortress into a residence and to entertain Ieyasu with falconry.

     Tadatsugu (1550-1610) was born to Tadaie (1528-1607), the lord of Ojima Castle, Hazu County, Mikawa Province.  In 1563, Tadaie took part in the revolt organized by the True Pure Land Buddhism and fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Battle of Azukizaka in 1564.  The revolt was defeated, and Tadaie left Ieyasu with his family.  In 1575, when Ieyasu fought the Battle of Nagashino with Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) against Takeda Katsuyori (1546-1582), Tadaie and Tadatsugu rushed to help Ieyasu in the decisive battle.  After the battle they worked and fought for Ieyasu's son, Nobuyasu (1559-1579).  However, Nobunaga suspected Nobuyasu of having secret communication with Katsuyori, and forced Nobuyasu to commit suicide by the sword on September, 15th, 1579.  Tadaie and Tadatsugu left Mikawa Province and lived in Sakai, Izumi Province, counting on Tadaie's elder brother, Sadakichi, who had left Mikawa Province soon after the Battle of Azukizaka and who had quitted being a samurai.

     Nobunaga, however, was killed in Honno-ji Temple by his vassal, Akechi Mitsuhide (1516-1582), on June 2nd, 1582, unluckily for Ieyasu, who was going sightseeing in Sakai and who ran about in confusion trying to get away from Sakai to Mikawa Province.  Tadatsugu helped Ieyasu escape through Yamato, Iga, and Ise Provinces to Mikawa Province, crossing the Ise Bay, instead of directly sailing back to Mikawa, which had a possibility of being attacked by pirates off Kumano.

     After they returned to Mikawa Province, Tadaie worked and fought for Nobunaga's second son, Nobukatsu (1558-1630), and Tadatsugu for Ieyasu.  After Nobukatsu fell, Tadaie depended on Tadatsugu.  Tadatsugu, in wartime, operated sending military provisions and maintaining their routes for large armies.  After Ieyasu moved to the Kanto Region in 1590, Tadatsugu managed river improvements, farm development, and land surveys.  The river improvements included changing the waterways of the Old Tone and Ara Rivers.  The Bizen Flumes and Bizen Levees in the Kanto Region were named after his posthumous Buddhist name.  He also taught farmers how to grow mulberry trees, hemp, and paper mulberries, and encouraged them in charcoal making, silk producing, and salt manufacturing.  Ina in Adachi County, Musashi Province, was named so after him.

     Was Tadatsugu more capable than Yoshifuji, or just luckier than Yoshifuji?  Today, Yoshifuji's grave stands side by side with that of his father in the precincts of An'yo-in Temple in Nakamaru.  An'yo-in Temple was founded by Hisamune's wife, who was from the Kato Family.  After the collapse of the Later Hojo Clan, Hisamune might have depended on Yoshifuji.  Both Tadatsugu and Yoshifuji took good care of their fathers.

Address: 10 Chome-520 Nakamaru Kitamoto, Saitama 364-0013

An'yo-in Temple

Address: 8 Chome−8−20 Nakamaru, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-0013

Phone: 048-591-5366

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Toko-in Temple

 

      It is unknown when Toko-in Temple was founded in Kano Village.  The temple's sango is Hikawasan, and Hikawa Shrine was invited to Kano in 869, so the area must have been developed quite early.  The shrine still has a spring whose water was said to heal diseases.

When Wakatarashihiko was the Emperor in the 4th century, he appointed governors in remote provinces and put up warehouses of tax rice there.  Etakehi, who was from Izumo Province, was dispatched to Musashi Province.

     In Izumo Province, today's Shimane Peninsula used to be an island in the Jomon Period (BC 14000-BC 10th century).  The Hi River filled the shallows between the Old Shimane Island and Honshu, and the Izumo Plain was formed about 10,000 years ago.  Rice growing arrived, and people there accumulated experience to change marshes and swamps into rice fields.  With this experience, Etakehi arrived at Musashi Province.  There, he or his offspring founded Hikawa Shrine, namely Hi River Shrine.  Etakehi , his offspring, his successors, and/or his followers tried to change marshes and swamps in the estuary of the Ara and Iruma Rivers into rice fields, and invited the god of Hikawa Shrine to their new rice fields.  As they developed new rice fields, they invited the god of Hikawa Shrine to the newly developed area.

     Toko-in Temple's precincts enshrine Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  The statue is commonly called Jobon-Josho Avalokitesvara.  Jobon Josho means the highest ranking.  What kind of ranking is it?

     Buddhism sorts people into 9 ranks according to what they have attained in this world.  Those who are ranked highest go to heaven promptly after their death.  Those who are ranked the lowest got to heaven after 57.84 billion years.  However, Priest Shandao (613–681), who lived in Sui and Tang China, proclaimed, "Rebirth in the Pure Land comes primarily through Amitabha Buddha's vow rather than one's own efforts."  His idea had a strong influence on Pure Land masters including Honen (1133-1212) and Shinran (1173-1262) in Japan.

     The Arya Avalokitesvara statue in Toko-in Temple is believed to represent the highest rank of the attainment due to the nine-rank system.  While Pure-Land Buddhists tried to conquer the nine-rank system by relying solely on faith in "the ocean-like vow singled out by Amitabha Buddha" (Shinran), those who believed in Jobon-Josho Avalokitesvara might have relied on Avalokitesvara.

     When the Ken-O Expressway, or Metropolitan Inter-City Expressway, was constructed, Toko-in Temple was slightly moved on March 17th, 2013, and it is located at the foot of the Okegawa-Kano Interchange.  So, we can still see or pray to Jobon-Josho Avalokitesvara.

Address: 1076 Kano, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0001

Hikawatenman Shrine

Address: 771 Kano, Okegawa, Saitama 363-0001

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #9 Mon'ju-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Mon'ju-in Temple was founded by Priest Den'yu in Joko Village, to which Hikawa Shrine was invited in 1444, between the Old Ara River and the Akabori River. 

     In the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), the central government was located at Muromachi in Kyoto, and the Kanto area was half-independent and was governed by the regional government in Kamakura, which was ruled by the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  Both the central shoguns and the Kanto deputy shoguns were from the Ashikaga Clan.  The both rather rivaled each other and some Kanto deputy shoguns even tried to become central shoguns.  To check the rivaling attempts, the central shoguns appointed some powerful Kanto samurai to be directly feudatory to them.  Those directly feudal to the central shoguns were called Kyoto Servants.

     In 1438, the 4th Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), raised his army against the central shogunate and left Kamakura.  The shogunate in Kyoto was well-prepared.  They moved the Kyoto Servants and had them seize Kamakura.  Losing where to return, Mochiuji was cornered into a suicide, with his 3 sons left very young.

     Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered Mochiuji’s 2 elder sons, Shun’o-maru and Yasuo-maru, in his castle, and rebelled against Yoshinori in 1440.  That was the Yuki War.

    On April 16th, 1441, Ujitomo's castle fell and he and his eldest son were killed in the fighting.  Shun’o-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto.  But on their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, they were killed, with their death poems left:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shuno-maru)

 

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

     Mochiuji’s  youngest son, Eijuo-maru (1438-1497), survived.  His wet nurse escaped to An’yo-ji Temple in Iwamurada, Saku County, Shinano Province.  Her brother was a priest in the temple.  Oi Mochimitsu, the lord of Oi Fortress near Iwamurada, protected Eijuo-maru.  As Shinano Province was a remote area compared to Yuki Castle, which was located in the northern half of the Kanto Plain along the Kinu River, Michitsuna as well as Eijuo-maru was not involved in Kanto politics.  In 1449, Eijuo-maru changed his name to Shigeuji and became the 5th Kanto Deputy Shogun.

     Joko-Hikawa Shrine was founded, it means Joko Village was developed, when the Kanto Deputy Shogunate was vacant and in turmoil.  To put it another way, the development of rice fields in the estuary of the Old Ara, Old Tone, and Watarase Rivers aroused the greediness of samurai in the Kanto Region and that caused the turmoil in the region.  The irony is that the more rice didn't mean the better welfare of farmers and peasants but meant the more battles and wars.

     Mon'ju-in Temple was abolished presumably after the Meiji Restoration, owned by a private citizen, and surrounded with pear orchards.

     Its present main hall was newly built in 1980, when Japan was in the midst of an economic bubble.

     The Joetsu Shinkansen Railway Line became in service in 1982, connecting Tokyo and Niigata.  As the line runs through Joko, part of the orchards sold at quite a good price.

     Photos suggest that it still has its graveyard.

Address: 1332 Joko, Konosu, Saitama 365-0024