Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Batei-ji Temple

 

     At the end of the 12th century, when samurai were overpowering the aristocracy, Azuma Koreyoshi and his uncle, Miwa Yoshimitsu, lived in Hirakata.  Yoshimitsu ruined himself, relied on Yoshimitsu, and died.  When one of Yoshimitsu's horses broke its hoof, Yoshimitsu abruptly realized the horse was a reincarnation of Yoshimitsu and bewailed him.  Koreyoshi invited Monk Chido, presumably Yoshimitsu's son or something, built a hermitage for Yoshimitsu and Chido, and called it Batei-an, namely Hoof Hermitage.  Believe it or not.  Elaborately, Koreyoshi enshrined Horse-Headed Hayagriva in the hermitage.

     One probable tragedy could have been like this:

     At the end of ancient times, the society became chaotic, and the chaos caused many battles.  Small and weak samurai families tend to split the family into 2, and were divided into 2 camps to survive as a family.  The Azuma Family belonged to the Minamoto camp and the Miwa Family belonged to the Taira camp.  Yoshimitsu died or was killed in battle, and his death might have something to do with a horse and its hoof.

     Koreyoshi's residence is said to have been located where Ageotachibana High School is.

     Priest Zontei (1522-1574) changed the hermitage to a temple sometime between 1532 and 1555 and named it Batei-ji. 

     Uesugi Tomoyoshi (1473-1518) was the head of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family.  He was based in Kawagoe Castle.  The Ageo area was ruled by the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family.  He married a daughter of Nagao Akitada (?-1509), who was the butler of Yamanouchi-Uesugi Family.  It is said she gave birth to Fujiomaru after Asatomo died.

     Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519) came from Kyoto to Suruga Province in 1469 to make a warring-state-period hero, and actually carried out his plan.  In 1493, he first started unifying Izu Province, which lay east to Suruga Province, and then moved further east, raiding Sagami Province.  In 1512, he reached Miura County, the easternmost part of the Sagami Province.  A military upheaval was threatening Musashi Province.

     In 1532, Tomoyoshi's nephew, Tomooki (1488-1537), killed Fujiomaru and became the head of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family.

     Zontei was born in Odawara and had a strong relation with the Later Hojo Clan.  He belonged to Pure Land Buddhism.  He not only became the head priest of Zojo-ji Temple in Edo but also founded many temples: Renkei-ji Temple in Kawagoe, Batei-ji Temple in Ageo, Kenryu-ji Temple in Kawagoe, Dairen-ji Temple in Kawagoe, Shorin-ji Temple in Ageo and others.  It means he founded Buddhist temples in the territory of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family before the Later Hojo Clan invaded the area.  Was he religiously aggressive, or politically outsmarting?

     The temple was moved to its present place in the same village in 1590 presumably after Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to the Kanto Region.

Address: 2088 Hirakata, Ageo, Saitama 362-0059

Phone: 048-725-2052

Ageotachibana High School

Address: 2187-1 Hirakata, Ageo, Saitama 362-0059

Phone: 048-725-3725