Virtual Shinobu Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #9 An'yo-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when An'yo-in Temple was founded in Imai Village, Sakitama County, Musashi Province.  The place name Imai, Now Well, was usually given to where newly developed especially in the Edo Period (1603-1867).

     The Sasunabe Drainage ran through Imai Village and the drainage is supposed to have been built when Ina Tadaharu (1606-1653) constructed Kitagawara Irrigation Canal in 1644.  The area could have had swamps to drain water to develop rice fields.

     An'yo-in Temple's precincts have a Kannon-do Hall, which enshrines Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.

     Its precincts also have Shinmei shrine, which is a Shinto shrine where Amaterasu is worshiped.  The most important Shinmei shrine is Ise Grand Shrine.  Other Shinmei Shrines are branches of Ise Grand Shrine.  The precincts also have an Akasagarbha hall.  An'yo-in Temple's main deity is Amitabha.  All in all, the precincts might have been a holy place which is a complex of targets of worship which might have been brought to the newly developed village by several kinds of people with various religious backgrounds.

Address: 868 Imai, Kumagaya, Saitama 360-0005