Trees In the Town

Virtual Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Negiwa Public Hall

 

     It is unknown when a Horse-Headed Hayagriva statue was enshrined in Ktayanagi Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  The village was developed in the Southern Court and Northern Court Period (1336-1392).  The statue is enshrined in the Negiwa Public Hall.

Negiwa Public Hall

Address: 1373-3 Katayanagi, Minuma Ward, Saitama, 337-0024

Trees In the Town

Virtual Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #6 Someya-Kannon-do Temple

 

     Yakumo Shrine was founded in Someya Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, in 1441.  Later, a Kannon-do hall was built in its precincts.

     In 1438, the Eikyo War broke out between Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), the4th Kanto Deputy Shogun, and Uesugi Norizane (1410-1466), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, in the Kanto Region.  The central Shogunate in Kyoto supported Norizane, and Emperor Go-Hanazono issued an order to suppress and punish Mochiuji as the enemy of the Imperial Court.  Such an order hadn't been issued for 60 years.

     Mochiuji was cornered to commit suicide by the central Shogunate and thus the Imperial Court.  His eldest son, Yoshihisa (1423-1439), also killed himself.  Yuki Ujitomo (1402-1441) sheltered 2 of Mochiuji’s younger sons, Shun'o-maru (1430-1441) and Yasuo-maru (1431-1441), in his castle, and rebelled against the central Shogunate in 1440. On April 16th, 1441, his castle fell and he and his son were killed in fighting.  Shun'o-maru and Yasuo-maru were arrested and were to be transferred to Kyoto, but, on their way, at Tarui, Mino Province, they were killed, with their death poems left:

“Summer weeds,

Their flowers blooming in Aono Field

Who knows their future?” (Shun'o-maru) 

“Who knows the future?

Our lives are to be limited today

Here away from home.” (Yasuo-maru)

     Someya Village might have been developed in those days.  To put it another way, Someya Village was one of newly developed villages in those days, and the development and the increase of rice production caused fighting among samurai.

Yakumo Shrine

Address: 1 Chome-288 Someya, Minuma Ward, Saitama, 337-0026

Trees In the Town

Virtual Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #5 Soji-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Soji-in Temple was founded by Priest Ryoshu (?-1577) in Tsuji Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.   The village might have been developed in the latter half of the 16th century.

     Ina Tadaharu (1606-1653) changed the watercourse of the Old Ara, Old Tone, and Old Watarase Rivers under the Tokugawa Shogunate.   First, Tadaharu stopped the Aino River, which was a bypass of the Old Tone River.  In 1621, he finished digging a canal to make the Old Tone River flow into the Watarase River, and started separating the Kinu and Kobai Rivers.  In 1629, he made the Old Ara River flow into the Iruma River, and the New Kinu River started running.  In 1630, the New Kobai River started running.  In 1635, he started building the Edo River and finished it in 1641.  Finally in 1654, 1 year after his death, the New Tone river ran east directly to the Pacific Ocean.

     Rerouting these rivers threatened that their original basins could have water shortages.  In order to secure irrigation water for the surrounding area, in 1629, Tadaharu built a 870-meter-long dam across the Shiba River, and created the Minuma Reservoir.  Tsuji Village was just east of the reservoir.

     In the 18th century, the Tokugawa Shogunate developed new rice fields to increase its revenues.  Izawa Yasobe (164-1738) reclaimed the reservoir and dug the Minuma Substitute Irrigation Canal instead.  Tsuji Village came to include the reclaimed land and became the shape of the head of a hammer.  It is unknown why the area was called Nanburyo.

     Soji-in Temple's precincts used to have a Kannon-do hall which enshrined the image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, but the hall was pulled down and the image is enshrined in its main hall.

Address: 2944 Nanburyotsuji, Midori Ward, Saitama, 336-0973

Phone: 048-878-1545

Trees In the Town

Virtual Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #4 Daiko-ji Temple

 

     Daiko-ji Temple was founded by Priest Eigi (?-1559) in Daimon Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, either in 1558 or 1559.

     The temple has a Kannon-do hall which enshrines Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six.  It is unknown if the temple is older than the hall.

Address: 2583 Daimon, Midori Ward, Saitama, 336-0963

Phone: 048-878-1826

Clouds Over the Town

Virtual Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Entoku-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Entoku-ji Temple was founded in Shimonoda Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.

     Its precincts have a Koshin stone monument dated 1667, which was based on the Koshin folk faith in Japan.  The faith is a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism, and Shinto.  According to the faith, "Three Corpses" or "Three Worms" are demonic creatures that live inside the human body, and they seek to hasten the death of their host.  Koshin monuments were built to prevent their activities and, accordingly, to extend human life.

     Shimonoda Village was developed at the edge of the Omiya Plateau.

     The Amakubo Irrigation Canal runs through the Shimonoda area, taking water from the Minuma Substitute Irrigation Canal, which was constructed by Izawa Yasobe (1654-1738) in 1728.  The Amakubo Irrigation Canal could have been dug earlier, presumably at the beginning of the Edo Period (1603-1867).  The canal should have facilitated the development of Shimonoda Village, and helped its population to increase.  The information about the canals, however, doesn't tell us when the temple was founded.  It could have been founded even when the village was underdeveloped.

     Although the temple's main deity is Amidabha, it also enshrines Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.

Address: 429 Shimonoda, Midori Ward, Saitama, 336-0962

Phone: 048-878-0169

Trees In the Town

Virtual Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Kotoku-ji Temple

 

     Kotoku-ji Temple was founded by Priest Kaigen (?-1601) in Hizako Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, in 1595.  Hizako Swamp used to take up two thirds of the village.

     In 1713, Priest Kogai of Ryuon-ji Temple presented an image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, to Kotoku-ji Temple.  Later, the image was moved to Kesshin-ji Temple, which had been burned down in 1707, but was moved back to Kotoku-ji Temple, due to a divine message.

Address: 315 Hizako, Minuma Ward, Saitama, 337-0021

Phone: 048-683-4316

Ryuon-ji Temple

Address: 452 Tatsugaya, Ogose, Iruma District, Saitama 350-0425

Phone: 049-292-3855

Kesshin-ji Temple

Address: 1732 Minagawajonaimachi, Tochigi, 328-0067

Phone: 0282-23-1641

Trees In the Town

Virtual Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Sasamaru-Kannon-do Hall

 

     It is unknown when a Kannon-do hall was built in Sasamaru Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  The village became independent from Katayanagi Village, whose name had been recorded in the Southern Court and Northern Court Period (1336-1392), in the latter half of the 18th century.  At the turn of the 19th century, the village had only 8 households and couldn't support an independent Buddhist temple.  However, they had their own graveyard by the hall.  Precisely speaking, the hall might have been built for the graveyard.

Address: 50-1 Sasamaru, Minuma Ward, Saitama, 337-0031

Trees In the Town

Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage

     It is unknown when a copy of Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized.  The pilgrimage first displayed their Avalokiteshvara statues all together to the public in 1678.  They did the simultaneous display in the spring equinoctial week in 2014 and will in the spring equinoctial week in 2026 next time.  As the member temples of the pilgrimage are located in Saitama City, it is commonly called Saitama City Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage although the city was born not in the Edo Period (1603-1867) but in 2001.

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #33 Josho-ji Temple

 

       Monk Genkai visited Adachi County, Musashi Province, from Inari Shrine in Kyoto.  He built a sutra mound.  The village was called Kyozukakoshi, namely Sutra Mound Over.  Inari Okami was invited and its shrine was built sometime between 1492 and 1501.  In 1684, Josho-ji Temple was founded as its shrine temple.  In 1871, Josho-ji Temple was abolished due to the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868.

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

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #32 Kanpuku-ji Temple

 

     Kanryo-bo Hermitage was founded by Monk Myogaku (1173-1223), who was the first son of Taira Koremori (1159-1184).

     Minamoto Yoshitomo (1123-1160) was assassinated 3 days after he was defeated in the Heiji Rebellion in 1159, in which the Minamoto Clan was suppressed by the Taira Clan.  The Minamoto Clan launched their revengeful battles against the Taira Clan in 1180. 

     In 1183, Minamoto Yoshinaka (1154-1184) advanced to Kyoto and the Taira clan decided to leave the capital.  Koremori was afraid that it would be unbearable for his wife, who was accustomed to the capital life, to flee to the west with him.  He left his wife and children in the capital.

     Koremori's wife and children hid in the north of Daikaku-ji Temple in Kyoto, but was captured by Hojo Tokimasa (1138-1215) in December, 1185, after the fall of the Taira clan. Koremori's first son, Takakiyo, was originally supposed to be sent to Kamakura and beheaded.  Due to the plea of Priest Mongaku to spare his life, he was spared from execution, and his custody was entrusted to Mongaku.  In 1189, Takakiyo shaved his head and took the Buddhist name Myogaku.  Mongaku gave Myogaku a 5-centimeters-tall Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja image.  In 1194, Myogaku visited Kamakura as a messenger of Mongaku.  Myogaku, through Oe Hiromoto (1148-1225), conveyed to Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the first Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, that he had become a monk without any ill will against Yoritomo.  Yoritomo remembered Myogaku's grandfather, Shigemori (1138-1179), saved Yoritomo's life after the Heiji Rebellion, and had Myogaku stay in the Kanto Region.

     After Yoritomo's death in 1199, Mongaku was caught in the political strife in the Minamoto Clan and among court nobles.  He was exiled to Sado Island in 1199, returned to Kyoto In 1202, was exiled to Tsushima Island in 1203, and died on his way to the island.

     Losing his protector, Myogoku was said to have been killed on one of those occasions.

In Maekawa Village, however, Myogaku was believed to have lived in Kanryo-bo Hermitage with his Sahasrabhuja image and died on March 17th, 1223.

     Maekawa Shrine used to have its shrine temple, Tofuku-ji.  Manpuku-ji Temple used to be located where Kanpuku-ji Cemetery is.  Tofuku-ji Temple merged into Manpuku-ji Temple in 1868, just after the Meiji Restoration.  Manpuku-ji Temple and Kanryo-bo Hermitage merged at the end of Taisho Era (1912-1926) and became Kanpuku-ji.

Address: 4 Chome-30-13 Maekawa, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0842

Phone: 048-265-5279

Maekawa Shrine

Address: 3 Chome-49-1 Maekawa, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0842

Phone: 048-265-7718

Kanpuku-ji Cemetery

Address: 4 Chome-30-17 Maekawa, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0842

Clouds Over the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #31 Kizoro-Kannon-do Hall

 

     Hikawa Shrine was founded in Kizoro Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, in 1396.

     In 1379, infighting within the central shogunate broke out.  Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the 2nd Kanto Deputy Shogun, had an ambition to become a central shogun and tried to advance to Kyoto.  Uesugi Noriharu (?-1379), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, tried to persuade him not to, and finally killed himself to stop Ujimitsu on March 7th.  Ujimitsu still appointed Noriharu's brother, Norimasa (1335-1394), as the general of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate Army on March 21st.  Norimasa left Kamakura but stopped in Izu Province.  Ujimitsu finally gave up his ambition for the time being.  Norimasa became the next Regent on April 15th, and returned to Kamakura on the 28th of the same month.  The relationship between the deputy shogun and the regent became delicate.  Kizoro Village might have been developed in those days.  The developers could have come from those where Hikawa Shrine had been already enshrined.

     In 1722, Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha was enshrined in Kizoro-Hikawa Shrine as its original Buddhist deity.  As the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, the Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha was removed from Kizoro-Hikawa Shrine, and a hall was built for the image about 300 meters east-north-east in 1897.

     In 1913, Mokuzoro-Hikawa Shrine was renamed Asahi Shrine.

Address: 269 Kizoro, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0831

Asahi Shrine

Address: 193 Kizoro, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0831

Phone: 048-284-3838

Clouds Over the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #30 Shinjo-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Shinjo-in Temple was founded in Ishigami Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  It was revived by Priest Son'yu (?-1628).

     Ina Tadaharu (1592-1653) first stopped the Aino River running.  It was a bypass of the Old Tone River.  In 1621, he finished digging a canal to make the Old Tone River flow into the Watarase River, and started separating the Kinu and Kobai Rivers.  In 1626, he built his residence in Akayama, Adachi County, Musashi Province, to prepare for the works to make the Ara River flow into the Iruma River.  When he built the residence, he gathered the dotted farmers to form Ishigami Village.  Shinjo-in Temple could have been revived on that occasion.

Address: 1253 Ishigami, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0823

Phone: 048-296-2675

The Site of Akayama Residence

Address: 768 Akayama, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0824

 

Clouds Over the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #29 Jigan-ji Temple

     It is unknown when Jigan-ji Temple was founded in Uradera Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  It wasn't recorded when it was merged by Jizo-in Temple.  It functions as a Kannon-do hall of Jizo-in Temple.  It enshrines Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha.

     In the Kamakura Period (1184-1333), the place name Hatogaya Village was recorded.  On September 3rd, 1562, Uradera Village was assigned to Shibue Yoshitane (?-1590).  Uradera Village might have been independent from Hatogaya Village after the 14th century.

The Shibue Family was based in Shibue Village near Iwatsuki Castle in Saitama County, Musashi Province.  Yoshitane first was subject to Ashikaga Yoshiuji (1541-1583), the 5th Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun, and then became subject to Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571).  When he served Ujiyasu, he carried out his responsibility as a messenger to Oda Ujiharu (1534-1602).  Uradera Village was a reward for his effort to keep Ujiharu from leaving the Later Hojo Clan.  However, Yoshiharu was killed in battle when Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) invaded the Kanto Region in 1590, and Ujiharu lost his territory to Hideyoshi after the invasion.

Jizo-in Temple

Address: 5 Chome-5-39 Sakuracho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 334-0001

Phone: 048-281-1347

 

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #28 Senju-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja was enshrined in Hatogaya Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  The village became a station along the Nikko Onari Kaido, or the Nikko Shogun's Highway, at the beginning of the Edo Period (1603-1867).  The Kannon-do Hall with the Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja image was the oldest and only temple in the station.

     Hatogaya-Sengen-sha Shrine was founded in 1556 , enshrining Konohanasakuya-hime.  The Hosho-ji Temple's 4th priest, Sotan (?-1567), changed the Kannon-do hall in Hatogaya Station into a Buddhist temple and named it Senju-in, namely Thousand Arms Temple.  Senju-in Temple was officially registered as a Buddhist temple in 1650.

     After World War II, the Hatogaya area was urbanized and the Kannon-do hall site became a 8-storied apartment house, and the Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja image was moved to Senju-in Temple in 1970.  Hatogaya-Sengen-sha Shrine was, on the other hand, merged to Hatogaya-Hikawa Shrine after the Meiji Restoration, but was revived by Senju-in Temple in 1978.  

     The Wamyo Ruijusho, Japanese Names for Things Classified and Annotated, which was compiled by Minamoto Shitago (911–983) in 938, recorded the place name Hatto Village in Adachi County, Musashi Province.  As Ya meant a valley, Hatogaya might have been Hatto's Valley, or a valley in Hatto Village.  In the Kamakura Period (1184-1333), the place name Hatogaya Village was recorded.

     Everything flows, including Konohanasakuya-hime, Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja, and the place name.

Address: 2 Chome-15-5 Sakashitacho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 334-0003

Phone: 048-281-0066

The Kannon-do Hall Site

Address: 3 Chome-2-20 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012

Hosho-ji Temple

Address: 1 Chome-11-51 Sakuracho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 334-0001

Phone: 048-283-1281

Hatogaya-Sengen-sha Shrine

Address: 2 Chome-14-21 Sakashitacho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 334-0003

Clouds Over the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #27 Ryoko-in Temple

 

     Ryoko-in Temple was founded by Priest Zen'yo in Aoki Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, in 1625.

     It is unknown when Aoki Village was developed along the Iruma River.  As Aoki-Hikawa Shrine is said to have been founded at the turn of the 15th century, the village might have been developed in those days.  A Buddhist image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was made at the end of the Warring States Period.  The population of the village increased and Shimo-Aoki Village became independent.  Under the religion policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate, every villager was supposed to belong to an official Buddhist temple.  Presumably, Ryoko-in Temple was founded to meet villagers' needs.

Address: 4 Chome-15-3 Nakaaoki, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0032

Phone: 048-446-6944

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #26 Namiki-Kannon-do Hall

 

     It is unknown when Yokozone Village was developed in Adachi County, Musashi Province, along the Iruma River.  Yokozone was one of the place names which contained "sone" in themselves, although "sone" pronounced "zone" due to euphony in the Japanese language.  "Sone" meant a natural levee, so the village must have been built on one of natural levees along the Iruma River.

    When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) moved to the Kanto Region, the village already existed.  In the middle of the 17th century, Namiki Hamlet was developed in Yokozone Village.  Although the hamlet didn't have its own temple, the locals built a Kannon-do hall when Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized in 1705, enshrining Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.

Address: 2 Chome-37-5 Namiki, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0034

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #25 Saisho-in Temple

 

     Hirayanagi Kurando (?-1564) was a samurai based in Motogo Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.  He developed Iizuka Village.  Priest Yuko brought an Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha image, which was said to have been curved by Gyoki (668-749), from Kon'yo-ji Temple in Settsu Province and founded Saisho-in Temple in the village in 1516.

Kurando was killed in the Battle of Konodai.

     Satomi Yoshihiro (1530-1578) invaded Kazusa Province, and then Shimousa Province.  At last, in 1564, he fought the Second Battle of Konodai against Hojo Tsunashige (1515-1587), but he lost.

     Its precincts has an itabi which was built by Sramanera Dokyo in 1289, but it is unknown whether the precincts was a holy place far before the foundation of Saisho-in Temple or the itabi was moved to the precincts after several floods and changes of the watercourse of the Ara River.

Address: 1 Chome-15-24 Iizuka, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0023

Phone: 048-252-3120

The Site of Hirayagi Kurondo's Residence

Address: 4 Chome-12-6 Motogo, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0011

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #24 Zenko-ji Temple

     Nanjo Tsunesato lived in Atsuta, Owari Province.  His 3rd son started his Buddhist training at the age of 6.  He became a monk, Teison (?-1210), at the age of 14.  He stayed in Jimoku-ji Temple for 32 years till 1194, when he was 64 years old.  One night, he dreamed of a divine message to visit Zenko-ji Temple in Shinano Prefecture.  He visited the temple and copied the temple's main deity.  He carried the copied Buddhist image in a wooden box on his shoulder and traveled from province to province.  More than a year later, he arrived at the Iruma River.  As there was no ferry those days, he had trouble crossing the river.  He managed to walk across the river, put the box down, and had a rest.  After a while, he tried to shoulder the box, but it didn't budge an inch.  Teison realized that fate meant for this to happen, and stayed there.  He built a hermitage and enshrined the copied image in it.

     In 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to Edo.  The city flourished and its population increased.  Those who couldn't travel to Zenko-ji Temple in Shinano Province visited the copied Buddhist image in Kawaguchi, and the pilgrimage to the temple became very popular.  Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) depicted the temple.

Why is the temple located on the Ara River today?

     In the Jomon Period, the Omiya Plateau used to be a peninsula which stuck out into the sea.  The Old Watarase River ran along the eastern side of the peninsula, and the Ara River (1) ran along the western side of the peninsula.  In the meanwhile, the ongoing process of the Kanto Plain's tectonic extension continued and the plain's central region gradually sank.  Finally, the Ara River (2) broke the peninsula around today's Kazo City to the east.  The river and its alluvium made the peninsula a triangle plateau in the Kanto Plain.  The watercourse of the Ara River (1) became the Iruma River, at which Teison arrived.  Ina Tadaharu (1606-1653) made the Ara River (2) flow into the Iruma River in 1629.  Since then, the watercourse became the Ara River (3).  For your information, after the modernization, the Ara River (4) was constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.  The change of the watercourse separated the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Kannon-ji Temple and the #24 Zenko-ji Temple across the Ara River (4).

Address: 1-29 Funatocho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0013

Phone: 048-222-2124

Jimoku-ji Temple

Address: Higashimonzen-24 Jimokuji, Ama, Aichi 490-1111

Phone: 0524423076

 

Clouds Over the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #23 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     Kannon-ji Temple was founded in Ukima Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province, in 1615 by Priest Shusei (?-1722).  He seems to have lived too long.

     Ukima, literally Floating Space, was developed on a small island in the Ara River presumably after Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) moved to the Kanto Region in 1590.  Its population increased and it had its own temple in 1615.  After the development, the island became a peninsula which is hooked up to the northern bank of the river.

     It started raining on August 5th, 1910.  Unfortunately, the rain was followed by a typhoon that approached the Japanese archipelago on the 11th.  It passed through the Boso Peninsula and left for the Pacific Ocean.  Another Typhoon landed near Numazu on the 14th, hitting Yamanashi Prefecture, and passed through western Gunma Prefecture.  They brought heavy rain to various parts of the Kanto Region.  The Tone, Ara, and Tama Rivers overflowed, resulting in damage in the Kanto Region of 769 people dead, 78 missing, 2,121 houses completely destroyed, and 2,796 houses washed away.  Kannon-ji Temple's priest and statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, barely survived on a raft.

     The central government decided to straighten the watercourse of the Ara River in 1911, and started its construction in 1913.  The construction was finished in 1930.  The new watercourse of the Ara River runs north of Ukijima.  In 1926, Ukijima was transferred from Adachi County, Saitama Prefecture to Toyoshima County, Tokyo Prefecture.  As a result, Kannon-ji Temple is the only one member temple of the Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (South) that is located in Tokyo Prefecture.

Address: 4 Chome-9-2 Ukima, Kita City, Tokyo 115-0051

Phone: 03-3960-4605

Trees In the Town

Virtual Adachi Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (the South) #22 Jofuku-ji Temple

 

     Jofuku-ji Temple was founded by Priest Ban'ei (?-1518) in Toda Village, Adachi County, Musashi Province.

     The Chokyo War was fought in the Kanto Region from 1487 to 1505 between the Yamanouchi-Uesugi and Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Families.  The Battle of Tachikawanohara on November 13th, 1504 was the final showdown between Uesugi Akisada (1454-1510), who was the head of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi Family, and Uesugi Tomoyoshi (1473-1518), who was the head of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family.  It didn't matter which side won.  The Chokyo War caused the Uesugi Clan to decline, left the Kanto Region further in confusion, and attracted Ise Shinkuro (1432-1519), who wanted to become a warring-states-period hero.   Shinkuro had come from Kyoto to Suruga Province in 1469 to make a warring-state-period hero, and actually carried out his plan.  In 1516, he destroyed the Miura Clan and unified Sagami Province.  In those days, Toda Village could have been developed by the Kaneko Family.

     The temple's precincts have a hokyointo, a Japanese pagoda made in stone, which was built by Kaneko Zenshiro and Zenbe in 1790.

     On January 30th, 1788, 80 percent of Kyoto was burnt in a great fire.  The Imperial Palace burned down as well.  The Kaneko Family presented 1,000 Ryo for the palace's reconstruction.

     The Great Tenmei Famine began in 1782, and lasted until 1788.  In the 1770’s, there was a sharp decline in crop yield in Mutsu Province, which was the north-eastern region of Honshu Island.  To make the situation worse, Mt. Iwaki erupted on March 12th, 1783, and Mt. Asama on July 6th.

     Another cause of the famine was the government's economic policies.  In the first half of the 18th century, the Tokugawa Shogunate raised taxes which were paid by rice.  The tax increase not only exhausted farmers and peasants but also caused rice planting to move northward.  All in all, the farmers and peasants in the northern provinces became vulnerable to cold weather and natural disasters.

     In the 1750’s, the shogunate implemented a mercantilist policy to further increase tax revenue.  This was intended to raise taxes from commerce and business, but, as taxes were basically paid in rice, caused rice prices to soar.  Many domains tried to increase their rice-planted acreage and even sold local emergency stores of rice.

     The climatic, volcanic, and economic factors combined to result in poor harvests and serious famine expanded to a national scale as a result.  Twenty thousand people were estimated to have starved to death, mainly in rural areas of the Tohoku Region.  However, many local authorities were afraid of being accused of economic mismanagement, and did not report the full extent of the damage, so the actual death toll may have been far higher.

     The combined impact of famine and outbreaks of disease resulted in a population decline of more than 920,000 people across Japan between 1780 and 1786.  The Kaneko Family donated 9,000 Ryo.

     Jofuku-ji Temple enshrines Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.

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