Virtual Shinobu Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Kiyotakiji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Kiyotakiji Temple was founded as a shrine temple of Yudono Shrine by Monk Hozo.

     At the foot of the Chichibu Mountains alluvial fans or cones spread.  At the bottoms of the fans or cones, spring water gushes out.  Some springs were regarded holy, and religious services were performed in front of the springs.  The Mitarai Spring in Beppu, Hara County, Musashi Province, was one of the holy springs.  The ruins of religious services there date back to the 7th century.  Later, Yudono Shrine was founded near the holy spring.

     The written document about Yudono Shrine dates back to 1380, when Oyama Yoshimasa (?-1382) rebelled against the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.

     Yoshimasa contributed to the founding of the Muromachi Shogunate (1336-1573), and was appointed the Guardian Samurai of Shimotsuke Province.  However, the most powerful samurai family in Shimotsuke Province was the Utsunomiya Family, who was based in Utsunomiya Castle and had powerful branch families in various places.  The Nasu Family was also half independent in the north. There was an antagonistic atmosphere there.  As Yoshimasa expanded his power through the appointment as the provincial guardian samurai, he faced a struggle for supremacy with the Utsunomiya Family.  After fierce battles, he finally defeated and killed Utsunomiya Mototsuna (1350-1380), the 11th head of the family.

     Yoshimasa's triumph, however, displeased Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the second Kanto Deputy Shogun, who attached importance to the balance of power in the Kanto Region, and he immediately mobilized Kanto samurai in Kamakura to hunt and kill Yoshimasa.  On his way to Shimotsuke Province, Ujimitsu visited Yudono Shrine and prayed for their victory.  Yoshimasa temporarily surrendered to the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, retired, and handed over his family estate to his son Wakainumaru (?-1397).  In 1382, Yoshimasa made a comeback and rebelled against the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  Ujimitsu gathered samurai forces from various parts of the Kanto and Southern Tohoku Regions.  Yoshimasa's army was defeated, and Yoshimasa committed suicide at his own castle in Akaishigahara, Kasuo, Kamitsuga County, Shimotsuke Province.

     As you see, Yoshimasa didn't pick up a pretext that he was fighting for the Southern Court, or the Imperial Court.

     Wakainumaru took up arms to fight against the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  He first held Oyama Fortress.  He was soon defeated, but disappeared.  In 1396, he organized the remnants of the Southern Court and rebelled against the Kanto Deputy Shogunate again.  Finally, he killed himself in Aizu, Mutsu Province.  His young children, Miyainumaru, who was 7 years old, and Hisainumaru, who was 3 years old, were arrested.  They were caged alive and sunk in the sea at Mutsura, Kuraki County, Musashi Province.

     Mutsura, which is pronounced Mutsuura today, is near the Kanesawa Eight Views.

Kose Kanaoka was a court painter, who established the Yamato-e style of Japanese painting.  He worked for Emperor Uda (867-931) and Fujiwara Mototsune (836-891).  He also formed friendships with intellectuals such as Sugawara Michizane (845-903) and Ki Haseo (845-912), who is believed to have written the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.  One day, Kanaoka visited the Noken area to find the view, which was later known as the Kanesawa Eight Views, too beautiful to draw, and left his brushes at the foot of a pine tree, which was blown down by a typhoon in 1918.  After his death, he was enshrined in Kanaoka Shrine, Sakai, Osaka.

     Fujiwara Michizane (966-1028) was said to have built a hermitage to enjoy the view.  It became a temple sometime In the Muromachi Period, but was abolished by 1486.  In 1662, Kuze Hiroyuki (1609-1679) brought the Ksitigarbha statue from Zojo-ji Temple in Edo.  Donggao Xinyue (1639-1696), a Chan priest from China, found the view very similar to that of the Eight Views of Xiaoxiang, and composed 8 Chinese poems.

The Eight Views of Noken-do

Donggao Xinyue (Naturalized from Ming China)

Susaki in the Windstorm

Surging waves gather the afterglow

Billowing waves reach bamboo doors

After the market in the dusk, people are quiet

Flying clouds and running water are heading to nowhere

The Autumn Moon in Seto

Small clear rapids untied a boat

Winds bring hollow sounds in Mid-Autumn

Sweet olives bring aroma to everywhere

Ice wheels float between islands

The Night Rain in Kozumi

Rain in the dusk's so desolate

Gushing spring can be heard clearly

Poor hermitage has difficulties with no compassion

Heartbreaking sound of an iron flute echoed

Like a Returning Boat in Ottomo

The Dynasty dispatched me skies away

I’m still hanging on stars away

What I sing highly reaches clouds away

A few contact me faintly though

The Night Bell from Shomyo-ji Temple

Since old times, Shomyo-ji’s been famous

The night bell sounds like a whale

The gone and the alive all start speaking

I alone leave the precincts

Landing Wild Geese in Hiragata

Flying in the dark, wild geese form an array

Autumn winds sadly blow and wave reeds

Flying, crying and eating, why so late to return?

Who doesn't love a thousand-mile mission?

Nojima in the Sunset

I envy an old fisherman who supports his family

Holding a pole in slush in dusk

Drink wine with netted fish

I drape on a bed, but how dare to boast

Snow and Dusk in Uchikawa

Causeways run in all directions

Rare flowers are paved with snow

The scenery is full of jade

They cover the high peaks with their points uncovered

     Who chose such a beautiful place to sink 2 young children?  Their tragedy emptily and vacantly paid.  Centuries later, in 1924, the Senior Fifth Rank was conferred on Yoshimasa by the Imperial Government.

     Kiyotaki-ji Temple was abolished after the Meiji Restoration.

Yudono Shrine

Address: 1575 Nishibeppu, Kumagaya, Saitama 360-0857

Phone: 048-571-2939

Mutsuura, Kanazawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0031