Virtual Kodama Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Daiko-ji Temple

 

     Daiko-ji Temple was founded sometime sometime between 957 and 961 in Hiroki, Kodama County, Musashi Province.  The temple fell into ruin.  Ogura Motohide (?-1376) lived a secluded life in Yoshiwara Hamlet, felt sorry for the old temple's decline, and revived it, inviting Priest Gensho (?-1394).

     Who was Motohide?

     Ogura Sueo (1289-1336) was the first son of Sanenori (1264-1349), the second head of the Ogura Family, and Kinnaga (1294-1337), the third head of the family, was the  Sanenori's second son.   Kinnaga's offspring succeeded to the headship of the Ogura Family.  As it was in the Southern and Northern Court Period (1336-1392), Sueo might have been involved in a political or even military incident.  Sanenori, Sueo, and Kinnaga all first subject to Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339), who started the Southern Court, but then belonged to the Northern Court.  If Motohide really belonged to the family, his move to Musashi Province could have something to do with the incident.  For your information, the 24th head of the family, Hidesue (1872-1929), became a colonel of the Imperial Japanese Army.

     In the New Topography and Chronicle of Musashi Province, Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) skeptically guessed that Isshiki Noriyuki, who was the lord of Hirokiyoshihara Fortress, and who repaired Tsuki Shrine under the order of Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358), the founder of the Muromachi Shogunate, in 1337, had something to do with Daiko-ji Temple since he called himself Daidoji Nyudo after he became a Buddhist monk.  Nyudo literally means a Buddhist monk.

     A branch of the Isshiki Family of Isshiki, Hazu County, Mikawa Province, moved to Tamiya Manor in Shimotsuke Province in 1319.  As the border between Shimotsuke and Musashi Provinces was moved east at the beginning of the Edo Period (1603-1867), the Tamiya area belongs to Sugito Town, Saitama Prefecture.  It is not so improbable that a branch of a branch further moved about 50 kilometers east-north-east to Hiroki Village in a decade or more.   

     In 1438, the Eikyo War broke out between Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the Kanto Deputy Shogun, and Uesugi Norizane (1410-1466), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, in the Kanto Region.  On August 15th, Isshiki Naokane (?-1438), the head of the Isshiki Family in the region, was ordered by Mochiuji to attack Norizane.  Naokane just followed the order.  The central Shogunate in Kyoto supported Norizane, and Emperor Go-Hanazono issued an order to suppress and punish Mochiuji as the enemy of the Imperial Court.  On September 4th, Mochiuji fled to Kamakura, and so did Naokane.  Mochiuji committed suicide on February 10th next year.  So had Naokane on November 7th, 1438.  When we serve a boss, we sometimes endure receiving unreasonable treatment.  Anyway, even after Naokane's death, the Isshiki Family as a whole didn't disappear.  It means there were some other branches in the region.  Noriyuki and his offspring could have been one of them.

Address: 2618-1 Hiroki, Misato, Kodama District, Saitama 367-0118

Phone: 0495-76-2174

 

Tsuki Shrine

Address: 3 Chome-17-25 Kishicho, Urawa Ward, Saitama, 330-0064

Phone: 048-822-2254

Hirokiyoshiwara Fortress Ruins

Address: Hiroki, Misato, Kodama District, Saitama 367-0118