Virtual Kodama Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Tenryu-ji Temple

 

     Tenryu-ji Temple was founded in Kanaya Village, Kodama County, Musashi Province, by Yokoji Tadaharu, who was appointed as an acting lord of Kijigaoka Fortress by Hojo Ujikuni (1548-1597).

     The place name Kanaya first appeared in the inscription of a kakebotoke in Muromachi Period (1336-1573).  A kakebotoke was a Buddhist image on the top of a mirror.  In Shinto, a native Japanese religion, a mirror was an object of worship.  Under the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, we started engraving a petroglyph of a Buddhist image on a bronze mirror in the 10th century.  Later, those images became gorgeous and three-dimensional.  Anyway, Kanaya Village might have been developed in the 14th century or later.

     Tadaharu belonged to a branch of the Yokoji Family, which was based in Yokoji, Totomi Province.  Yokoji Ienaga (1052-1126) was born in Sagara Manor, Mikawa Province, moved to Yokoji, and called his family Yokoji.  The second head of the family was Yorinaga, the third was Nagamune, who fought in the Hogen Rebellion in 1156 for Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127-1192), the 4th was Nagashige, who fought in the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 for Minamoto Yoshitsune (1159-1189), the 5th was Naganao, who guarded the Imperial Palace in Kyoto for the Kamakura Shogunate, the 6th was Moroshige, who was a good shooter and who organized annual special New Year archery, the 7th was Moronaga, who took part in the anti-Kamakura-Shogunate movement, and the 8th was Nagakuni, who fought for the Northern Court in 1331 first in the siege of Kasagi, in which Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339) was captured on September 28th.  Prince Moriyoshi (1308-1335) escaped from Kasagi to Akasaka Fortress, where he was protected by Kusunoki Masashige (1294-1336).  The Northern Court army left Kyoto on October 15th, and attacked the fortress on the 16th.  The prince and Masashige fled.  Nagakuni returned safely.  The 9th was Naganori, who attacked the Ii Family, who fought for the Southern Court, and who held the Mitake Fortress.  The 10th was Ienaga, who followed Imagawa Sadayo (1326-1420), who was a general of the Northern Court.  Ienaga was killed in battle in Kyushu when they fought against the Kikuchi Family.  Their services to the Northern Court paid off.  The 11th head, Nagatoyo, became a member of the Guards of the Shoguns of the Muromachi Shogunate in Kyoto.  The 12th was Nagayasu, who was killed in battle against Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), who rebelled against the central shogunate.  The 13th was Nagahide, who was a member of the Guards of Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490).  The loyalty to the Muromachi Shogunate seemed to be working.  However, the Warring States Period came.  In 1476, Imagawa Yoshimoto (1436-1476) of Suruga Province attacked Yokoji Fortress because Yokoji Hidekuni (?-1476), the 14th head of the family, supported the ancien regime in Totomi Province.  The fortress fell, and Hidekuni was killed in battle.  Yoshimoto was also killed in battle, with his young son, Ujichika (1471-1526), left.  As Ujichika was just 4 years old, the Imagawa Family fell into internal strife.  In those days, Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519) came from Kyoto to Suruga Province to become a warring-state-period hero.

     The remnants of the Yokoji Family could have been employed by Shinkuro, whose offspring started the Later Hojo Clan.  As the clan expanded their power over Musashi Province, the Yokoji Family might have moved to the province and founded Tenryu-ji Temple.

     The temple's precincts have a grave of Toda Ujiyori (1773-1837), who was the 6th head of the Toda Family.  The family was a koke, literally high family, which is generally referred to the hereditary position of the Master of Ceremonies.  Ujitoyo (?-1698), the founder of the family, was the first court noble that was hired by the Tokugawa Shogunate to attain the position.

Address: 142-1 Kodamacho Kanaya, Honjo, Saitama 367-0216

Phone: 0495-72-0098

Yokoji Castle Ruins

Address: Higashiyokoji, Kikugawa, Shizuoka 439-0022

Phone: 0537-73-1137

Mitake Fortress Ruins

Address: Inasacho Mitake, Kita Ward, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 431-2203