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