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