Virtual Shinobu Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Nagai-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Nagai-ji Temple was founded in Yatogo Village, Hara County, Musashi Province.

     Saito Sanemori (1111-1183) was based in Nagai Manor, Hara County, Musashi Province.

Musashi Province was a buffer zone between Minamoto Yoshitomo (1123-1160), who was based in Sagami Province, and his younger brother, Yoshikata (?-1155), who had advanced into Kozuke Province. At first, Sanemori followed Yoshitomo, but later he came to serve under Yoshikata due to geopolitical reasons.  Yoshihira (1141-1160), a son of Yoshitomo, found the movements of the samurai in Musashi dangerous, and made a surprise attack on Yoshikata in 1155 and killed him in the Battle of Okura.

     Sanemori returned to being at the service of Yoshitomo and Yoshihira.  However, he did not forget his gratitude to Yoshikata, and took Yoshikata's bereaved child, Komaomaru, from Hataekyama Shigeyoshi and sent the baby to Nakahara Kaneto (?-1181), who was the husband of Komaomaru's wet nurse, in Shinano Province. The baby later grew up to be Minamoto Yoshinaka (1154-1184), who first advanced to Kyoto when the Minamoto Clan started their revengeful battles against the Taira Clan.

     In the Hogen Rebellion in 1156 and the Heiji Rebellion in 1160, Sanemori went to Kyoto and fought bravely for Yoshitomo.  After Yoshitomo's fall, he escaped safely to his homeland, and served the Taira Clan thereafter.  Even when Yoshitomo's son, Yoritomo (1147-1199) raised an army in 1180, Sanemori remained on the side of the Taira Clan and fought for Taira Koremori, who advanced to Suruga Province to suppress Yoritomo.  Even after Koremori's army suffered a crushing defeat against Yoritomo in the Battle of Fujikawa, Sanemori kept on the side of the Taira Clan.

     In 1183, Sanemori went to Hokuriku with Koremori to hunt down and kill Yoshinaka, but was defeated in the Battle of Shinohara in Kaga Province.  Sanemori made up his mind that the battle should be his last one.  He dyed his gray hair black because he wanted to fight youthfully at the end.  While all his allies were crushed, he pushed his aged body into the fight without taking a step back, and was finally killed by Tezuka Mitsumori (?-1184).

     When Yoshinaka judged the beheaded, he showed the Sanemori's head to Higuchi Kanemitsu (?1184), who recognized Sanemori but wondered why the head had black hair at the age of over 70.  Yoshinaka had Kanemitsu washed Sanemori's head in a nearby pond, and his hair turned gray in an instant.  Yoshinaka realized that he had killed his former benefactor, and burst into tears.  Sanemori's final moments in the Battle of Shinohara are described in the seventh chapter of "The Tale of the Heike" as 'Sanemori's Last Moment', and the tale lamented his death, "Zhu Maichen (?-115 BC) in ancient China returned to his hometown, Guiji, as a successful man and Saito Sanemori today gained fame in the northern provinces.  It's a pity that Sanemori's reputation would last forever but that the name is empty and his body became dust in a faraway land."

Address: 1979 Yatogo, Kumagaya, Saitama 360-0203