Virtual Shinobu Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #11 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Kannon-ji Temple was founded in Shimo-Nara Village, Hara County, Musashi Province.

     The pilgrimage route goes through old rice fields developed in ancient times, those developed in medieval days, and those developed under the Tokugawa Shogunate.  The second ones are usually muddy paddy fields and the third ones were possibly  developed after Ina Tadaharu (1606-1653) made the Old Ara River flow into the Iruma River in 1629.  The Old Ara River Basin became drier, or at least not too wet.

     Nara Village might have been developed in medieval days, and Shimo-Nara Village became independent in the Edo Period.

     The Nara Family was based in Nara Village.  The Nara Family first appeared on the stage of history in the Tale of Hogen, which is a Japanese war chronicle or military tale about the Hogen Rebellion in 1156.  The rebellion was brought about, twining 3 different internal conflicts.  The supreme level conflicts were among the Royal Family: Cloistered Emperor Emperor Toba (1103-1156), Cloistered Emperor Emperor Sutoku (1119-1164), and Reigning Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127-1192).  The second level conflicts were between noble brothers: Fujiwara Tadamichi (1097-1164), Fujiwara Yorinaga (1120-1156).  The third level conflicts were among samurai: among the Minamoto Clan, and among the Taira Clan.  As the rebellion was actually fought by samurai, it paved the way to the rise of samurai.  In the rebellion, the Nara Family fought for Minamoto Yoshitomo (1123-1160), without realizing which (cloistered) emperor they were fighting for.  Yoshitomo mobilized samurai from Sagami, Musashi, Kazusa, Shimousa, Shimotsuke, Shinano, and Izu Provinces.  He had left Kyoto and visited the Kanto Region when a boy.  He grew up there to gain renown as a brave and courageous samurai.  He also extended his power by marriage.  His first son, Yoshihira (1141-1160), was born to a daughter of Miura Yoshiaki (1092-1180).  His second son, Tomonaga (1143-1160) was born to a sister of Hatano Yoshimichi (1107-1167).  He was not only politically energetic but also privately.  His 4th son was born to an unrecorded mother.  His 6th son was born to a prostitute of Ikeda Station in Totomi Province.  His 7th, 8th, and 9th sons were born to his concubine.  The number of his children helped when the Minamoto Clan launched their revengeful battles against the Taira Clan.  However, the number also slang mud at them, after they established the Kamakura Shogunate.  They started another internal conflict and Yoshitomo's family died out and their political hegemony in the shogunate went over to the Hojo Clan. 

     The Nara Family survived all the troubles caused by their direct lord, or by their supreme rulers.  The Nara Family not only survived but also spread.  Their branches moved to Mutsu and Sanuki Provinces.  In the Warring States Period, however, they were destroyed one by one.  The Nara Family in Musashi Province was destroyed by the Narita, Beppu, and Tamai Families in 1517.  When Chosokabe Motochika (1539-1599) invaded Sanuki Province from Tosa Province in 1580, the Nara Family there was destroyed.  When Kunohe Masazane (1536-1591) fought against the 60,000-strong army of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) with his 5,000 samurai, the Nara Family fought for Masazane, to lose.  The head of the family, Shirozaemon, was executed in Sannohasama, Kurihara County, Mutsu Province, and the family's survivors scattered to Tsugaru and Akita.  When the Hirosaki Domain in Tsugaru was abolished in 1872 under the Meiji Restoration Government, it had 16 Nara Families as samurai.

     Kannon-ji Temple enshrines Eleven-Fased Ekadasamukha.

Address: 913 Shimonara, Kumagaya, Saitama 360-0802