Virtual Musashino 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Konjo-in Temple

 

     Kukai (774-835) was said to have built a hermitage in the area which was later called Yamaguchi Village in Iruma County, Musashi Province, sometime between 810 and 824 to enshrine a Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja statue which was  said to have been carved by Gyoki (668-749).  Believe it or not.  As Kukai dispatched his apprentices to the Eastern Provinces in 815, it must have been one of them that actually founded the hermitage.  Later, Konjo-in Temple was founded to manage the hermitage and the statue.  The temple has a temple bell dug out in Ogane Village nearby.  All in all, the temple and its surrounding area were very mysterious.  Someone might have wanted to decorate their local history.

     The most part of Musashi Province was plateaus deeply covered with volcanic-ash soil, which was suitable for stock farming, not for rice growing.  In ancient times, many of the naturalized Silla people then were sent to Musashi Province, and engaged in the stock farming.  That stimulated people there, and many stock farms were set up, including 6 imperial stock farms.  The custodians of those farms later formed small-scale samurai families.  By marriage, those samurai families composed 7 corps on the plateaus in the province: the Musashi Seven Corps.  The Murayama Corps was one of the 7.

     Murayama Yorito was the founder of the Murayama Corps.  He lived in Murayama, Tama County, Musashi Province.  Murayama Ietsugu, one of Yorito's grandsons, lived in Yamaguchi, Iruma County, Musashi Province, and called his family Yamaguchi.  He also invited the god of Hikawa Shrine to Yamaguchi.  The family lived in Yamaguchi Fortress for generations.

     The Yamaguchi Family ruled Yamaguchi, Iruma District, Musashi Province from the end of the Heian Period (794-1185) to the Warring States Period (1467-1568).

     In the Hogen War in 1156, Yamaguchi Rokuro fought for Minamoto Yoshitomo (1123-1160).

     The Musashi Seven Corps basically supported the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, the government by samurai, for samurai, and of samurai. Some corps members climbed up the social ladder through the battles to overthrow the ancient establishment, while others remained half-farmer and half-samurai. Through marriage ties, or by blood, those common half-farmer and half-samurai families formed a provincial common ring or mafia, Musashi Hei-ikki, or the Musashi Commonwealth.

     Yamaguchi Hyotaro was injured in the Jokyu War in 1221.

     In 1368, the Musashi Hei-ikki Revolt broke out against the high-ranking samurai of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  Yamaguchi Takakiyo (?-1368) took the side of the Musashi Commonwealth and participated in holding the Kawagoe Fortress.  Yamaguchi Fortress became short of military force and was attacked by Uesugi Noriaki (1306-1368), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  Takakiyo's wife drowned herself in the pond nearby with their baby.  Takakiyo hurried back from Kawagoe, but was unable to enter the fortress and committed suicide at Zuigan-ji Temple.  His saddle is preserved at Zuiganji Temple.

     Takakiyo's father, Takazane (?-1383), took care of Takakiyo's surviving child.  15 years later, in 1383, Takazane raised his army with the grown-up child, Takaharu (?-1583), against Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the 2nd Kanto Deputy Shogun, and Uesugi Noriaki (1306-1368), the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate.  Takazane and Takaharu were defeated and committed suicide by setting fire to Yamaguchi Fortress.

     3 graves of the Yamaguchi Family remain at Zuigan-ji Temple in Yamaguchi, and one of them is dated 1383.  The temple also keeps Takami's Buddhist memorial tablet.

     Takaharu's son, Takatada, became a vassal of the Oishi Family.  Takatada built Negoya Fortress about 3 kilometers west of Yamaguchi Fortress in Shorakuji Village in the hills.  He also devoted himself to the revitalization of the Yamaguchi area, including reviving Naka-Hikawa Shrine near Yamaguchi Fortress, which was destroyed in the war.

     When the Kanto Deputy Shogunate was practically destroyed by the Later Hojo Clan, Takatada became subject to the clan.  Some say, after the fall of the clan, Takatada's descendant, Takaosa, was hired by the Tokugawa Shogunate, but others say Takaosa became a masterless samurai.

     Negoya Fortress was built from 1390 to 1428.  The fortress was originally called Shorakuji Fortress.  At the foot of the fortress, a peacetime domicile was formed.  That kind of domiciles were often called Negoya, namely sleeping huts.  Later, the fortress came to be called after the name of a village at the foot of it.  In times of emergency, they would stay in Negoya Fortress.

     As Negoya Fortress was built deep in the Sayama Hills, it has not been destroyed by development even in modern times, and it narrowly avoided being submerged during the construction of the Yamaguchi Reservoir.  Currently, the area around the human-made lake is owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Bureau of Waterworks, and is surrounded by a fence as a water resource protection area.  Access to the site of the fortress is restricted, and the fortress ruins are not open to the public.

     Where did the Yamaguchi Family's offspring go?  Their memories might lie at the bottom of the human-made lake.

     The precincts have an old stone itabi dated 1365, the 4th year of Joji, whose calendar was used under the Northern Court.  It means the local samurai belonged to the Northern Court in the Period of the Northern and Southern Courts.

     Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) established the Ashikaga Shogunate on the pretext of belonging to the Northern Court in 1338.  In 1349, he called his eldest son, Yoshiakira (1330-1367), from Kamakura to Kyoto, and sent his second son, Motouji (1340-1367), to Kamakura from Kyoto as a Kanto Deputy Shogun.  From 1353 to 1362, Motouji stayed in Iruma County to bring the Kanto Region under control.  So, the samurai who was buried under the old monument might have fought for Motouji.

     Konjo-in Temple is also the #1 member of the Sayama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 2203 Kamiyamaguchi, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1153

Phone: 04-2922-4258

The Site of Yamaguchi Fortress

Address: 1519-1 Yamaguchi, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1145

The Site of Negoya Fortress

Address: Shorakuji, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1154

Zuigan-ji Temple

Address: 400 Yamaguchi, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1145

Phone: 04-2922-6569

Naka-Hikawa Shrine

Address: 1849 Yamaguchi, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-1145

Phone: 04-2922-8888