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