Virtual Kodama Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Shokan-ji Temple

 

     Sometime between 859 and 877, a noble man moved from Kyoto, the national capital, to the Kanto Region.  He first arrived at Teshigawara Village, Kodama County, Musashi Province, and then moved to Motegi Village, Hana County, Kozuke Province.  There, he found a demon torturing the locals.  He eliminated the demon, breaking its horns.  The locals admired the noble man, founded Tsunoore Shrine, namely Broken Horn Shrine, and named the place Miyakojima, namely Capital Island.  It is unknown when Daien-bo Hermitage was built as its shrine temple.  In 1612, it was documented as Daien-bo.  In 1614, the hermitage was changed into an official temple and was named Shokan-ji by Priest Kaiho, who might have made good and religious use of the Tokugawa Shogunate's religion policy to force every citizen to belong to an official Buddhist temple.

     From the 1620's to the 1640's, the Tone and Karasu Rivers flooded, and moved their watercourses north.  They started running north of Miyakojima Village, and the village was transferred into Musashi Province.

     Totsuka Morimasa presented a sangaku, namely a calculation tablet, to the temple in 1726.  Sangaku are wooden tablets to show mathematics challenges or the solutions to the challenges in public.  They are usually hung in Shinto shrines or Buddhist temples.

Address: 864 Miyakojima, Honjo, Saitama 367-0073

Phone: 0495-21-4389