Virtual Shinobu Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Kannon-ji Temple

 

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

     The village was named Tamanoi, namely Jewels' Well, after a legendary well.

     Emperor Yamabe (737-806) moved the capital from Nara to Kyoto.  As preparation, the emperor ordered Priest Kenkei (714-793) to search for a good place to build a new capital.  According to a local tradition, Kenkei even visited Musashi Province, which is quite improbable.  Anyway, when Kenkei visited Hara County, he had an eye disease.  One night, he received a divine message to dig a well and to cleanse his eyes with its water.  As he followed the oracle, his eyes were cured.  The well also provided 2 jewels.  Tamanoi-ji Temple was founded for one jewel, and Tamanoi Shrine was founded for the other.  Tamanoi Shrine's shrine temple was Kichijo-in Temple.  In the shrine's precincts, besides Kichijo-in Temple, 1 Inari Shrine was owned by Shinpuku-ji Temple, 2 Inari Shrines and Suwa Shrine were owned by Tamanoi-ji Temple, 1 Inari Shrine was owned by Kannon-ji Temple, Sengen Shrine was owned by Amida-do Temple, and Kojin Shrine was owned by the villagers.  It seems the shrine and the temple composed a religious conglomerate, based on the Tamanoi legend.  Actually, Kannon-ji Temple's sango is Jigan-san, namely Cherish Eyes Mountain.

Tamanoi Shrine was called Tamai-Myojin Shrine in the New Topography and Chronology of Musashi Province, which was compiled by Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) at the beginning of the 19th century.  It merged 19 shrines in 1908, and merged another in 1909.  The shrine came to be called Tamaidai, namely Tamai Great, since then.

     The Tamanoi Well is in the graveyard of Tamai-ji Temple.  The graveyard has the grave of Tamai Sukeshige.  The Tamai Family belonged to the Yokoyama Corps.  Sukeshige, who was also called Shiro, appears in the Tale of Heike, Azuma Kagami, and the Tale of Hogen, which were all written or compiled in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).

     In the Tale of Hogen, which was written before 1297, Tamai Saburo and Shiro appear.  As the tale is about the incidents in 1156, the Saburo and Shiro could have been Sukeshige's predecessors in the family line.  In the Tale of Heike, which is supposed to have been composed before 1309, he hunted down Taira Michimori (1153-1184)  in the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani in 1184.  In Azuma Kagami, which is supposed to have been compiled at the turn of the 14th century, he embezzled the land of Ichinomiya-Izumo Shrine in Tamba Province in 1184, and troubled an Imperial messenger in 1185.  He was dismissed by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the first Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate.  When Yoritomo visited Kyoto in 1190, however, Sukeshige followed him.  The Tamai Family disappeared after Sukeshige.  They might have been too dauntless to survive under the Kamakura Shogunate, the civilized samurai government.

     We have talked about the Nara, Beppu, and Tamai Families in the Virtual Shinobu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage so far.  The family tree of the Narita Family, which was compiled in the Edo Period (1603-1867), claims all the families are branches of them, making up a fictitious historical figure, Suketaka.  The family tree claims the Narita Family was succeeded by Suketaka's first son, and that the Beppu Family was started by his second son, Jiro, that the Nara Family was started by his third son, Saburo, and that Tamai Family was started by his fourth son, Shiro.  It seems the Narita Family pieced historical figures with convenient names together.  The Narita Family might have employed someone with such intelligence.  As their family name suggests, the Narita Family was based on newly developed rice fields.  Their development became so successful that they overpowered samurai in their surrounding previously developed rice fields.

     Their family tree also insists that their ancestor was one of the grandsons of Fujiwara Koretada (924-972), the Prime Minister in Kyoto.  Koretada's sons, Takataka (953-974) and Yoshitaka (954-974), died young on the same day because of smallpox.  Yoshitaka's 3rd son, Mototada, whose mother wasn't recorded, left no personal history.  According to the family tree of the Narita Family, he left Kyoto for the Kanto Region.  He settled in Sakitama County, Musashi Province.  It was probable that a Fujiwara Mototada, who was down and out, came to Musashi Province and was adopted by a branch of the Yokoyama Corps.  It isn't clear whether Mototada, who was concerned here, was the ancestor of the Narita Family, who seems to have decorated their family tree with the help of someone intelligent enough and well-informed about the information in Kyoto.

     In reality, in the Tale of Hogen, which was written before 1297,  Narita Taro fought for Minamoto Yoshitomo (1123-1160).  In Azuma Kagami, which is supposed to have been compiled at the turn of the 14th century, Narita Suketsuna took part in Minamoto Yoritomo's campaign against the Fujiwara Clan in Mutsu Province in July, 1189.  In 1217, Narita Goro caused an incident of bloodshed.  In the Jokyu War in 1221, Narita Goro, Toji, Hyoenonjo, and Gorotaro fought over the bridge across Uji River, and the latter 2 were killed in battle.  Although the Narita Family was a direct vassal of the Kamakura Shogunate, they seem to have been subject to the Hojo Clan in reality.  When the Kamakura Shogunate was destroyed, Narita Ietsuna and Hidetsuna were involved in the communal suicide of the Hojo Clan in Kamakura in 1333.  The family's women who were left behind didn't commit group suicide as the Hojo women did.  They looked for a way to survive.  Presumably by chance, they found Abo Nobukazu.  It is unknown whether Nobukazu forcibly came to the Narita Family's hometown or the Narita Family invited him.  The Abo Family belonged to the Tan Corps while the Narita Family belonged to the Yokoyama Corps.  They even weren't remotely related to each other.  The Tan corps had advanced from Chichibu County.  Nobukazu was an illegitimate child of the Abo Family, and the interests of him and the Narita women coincided.  He married a daughter of Ietsuna, or the Narita Family adopted him.

We can't find the records on the Narita Family for a while, but they survived the chaos of the Southern and Northern Courts (1336-1392).  4 generations later, Yasukazu took part in Musashi Shirahataikki, or Musashi White Flag Commonwealth.

     It is unknown whether Musashi Shirahataikki was organized before the collapse of Musashi Hei-ikki, stimulated by the organization and success of Musashi Heiikki, or after Musashi Heiikki was destroyed.  Musashi Shirahata-ikki meant the Musashi White-Flag Commonwealth.  Here, the white flag didn't mean surrender but meant their support for the Mitamoto Clan, to which the Ashikaga and Uesugi Clans belonged.  The Minamoto Clan used white flags against red flags of the Taira Clan at the end of the ancient times.

     Anyway, after the collapse of Musashi Hei-ikki, Musashi Shirahata-ikki organized left-over low-ranking samurai of Musashi Heiikki.

     Narita Akiyasu (1465-1524) revived the Narita Family.  He was the 3rd son of Nagao Takakage (?-1501), the butler of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi Family, and was adopted by the Narita Family.  He destroyed surrounding small-scale samurai.

     The Tamai Family might have been destroyed by the Narita Family although it isn't certain whether they were already destroyed in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) or by Akiyasu or his son, Chikayasu (?-1545).

Tamai-ji Temple

Address: 1888 Tamai, Kumagaya, Saitama 360-0853

Phone: 048-532-4685

Tamaidai Shrine

Address: 1911 Tamai, Kumagaya, Saitama 360-0853

Phone: 048-522-1985

Shinpuku-ji Temple (?)

Address: 1 Chome−29−29 Tadanocho, Gyoda, Saitama 361-0041

Amida-do Temple (?)

Address: 492-1 Tawarase, Kumagaya, Saitama 360-0223