Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South)

 

     Preceding the Adachi BAndo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, which was organized by Priest Joten in 1760, another Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage had been organized in 1705 by Takahashi Gentaro, who was from Tsukagoshi Village in the same county.  As Gentaro wasn't a priest, the area of the pilgrimage he organized was  rather small.  The why didn't Joten merge it as part of his new pilgrimage?

     Takahashi Shingoro, Jr. (1791-1857) was the founder of Tsukagoshi Yukiori.  He was a businessman and inventor at the end of the Edo period.

     He was born in Tsukagoshi Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  His name was Kunitaro.  His father, Shingoro Takahashi I (1766-1816), was the fourth generation of the Takahashi Family.  As a thread merchant dealing in cotton and tinsel, he supplied thread to areas such as Ashikaga and Oume, where the textile industry was thriving.  When Kunitaro became the fifth generation head of the Takahashi family, he came to call himself Shingoro.  In the middle of the 180's, he improved looms and began producing blue-stripe fabric.  After that, the scale of production was expanded, and, by 1837, the business had expanded to have 102 looms and 130 indigo vats.  This was later referred to as an example of manufacture at the end of the Edo period.  After his death, he and his wife were enshrined at Hataso Shrine, and in 1924, he was posthumously awarded an aristocratic rank of Jugoi.  Hataso Shrine became a part of Tsukagoshi-Inari Shrine with its name shortened, Hata Shrine.

     Why didn't Joten reorganize the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, including, for example, a few member temples of the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, which had been organized by Gentaro?  Instead the priest made the #1 member temple of the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, which had been organized by Gentaro, #1 member temple of the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, which he newly organized.  That could have been his way of showing his respect to the Takahashi Family.

Hata Shrine c/o Tsukagoshi-Inari Shrine

Address: 3 Chome-2-14 Tsukagoshi, Warabi, Saitama 335-0002