Virtual Shinobu Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Myoon-ji Temple

 

     Nishino-bo Hermitage was built by Nara Saburo.  Its main deity was Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  The hermitage was authorized as a temple in 1649 and was renamed Myoon-ji, enshrining 3 Buddhist images as its new main deity: Mahavairocana in the center, and with Acalanatha and Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, on either side.

     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) and 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.

     After the Hogen Rebellion, they had the Heiji Rebellion in 1159, in which the Minamoto Clan was suppressed by the Taira Clan.  The number of Yoshitomo’s 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 conflicts 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 Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392), Nara Gorozaemonnojo fought for Ko Morofuyu (?-1351), who became one of the 2 Regents of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate when Ashikaga Motouji (1340-1367) was dispatched to Kamakura by his father Takauji (1305-1358).  The other Regent was Uesugi Noriaki (1306-1368).  When Takauji was opposed with his younger brother, Naoyoshi (1307-1352), Morofuyu was on Takauji's side and Noriaki was on Naoyoshi's side.  Accordingly, Gorozaemonnojo was automatically on Takauji's side without any subjective realization.  Unluckily, Morofuyu lost power games to Noriaki, fled to Kai Province at the end of 1350, and was cornered to kill himself by the troops of Uesugi Norimasa (?-1366) and Suwa Tadayori on January 17th, 1351.  Luckily, Takauji defeated Naoyoshi in December of the same year.  It wasn't recorded whether Gorozaemonnojo took part in any related battles or not, but anyway the Nara Family survived. 

     After 2 centuries, the Nara Family's luck ran out.

     In the Warring States Period, they were destroyed one by one.  The Nara Family in Musashi Province was destroyed by the Narita, Beppu, and Tamai Families in 1517.  Narita Saburo was "adopted" by the Nara Family and called himself Nara Saburo.  His name suggests that he was the third son of the Narita Family.  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.

     The precincts have Saburo's grave, but, according to the New Topography and Chronology of Musashi Province, which was compiled by Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) at the beginning of the 19th century, the original grave stone had been damaged and its epitaph was inscribed on a new stone sometime between 1716 and 1736.

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