Virtual Musashino 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Jigen-ji Temple

 

     New rice fields were developed between the Iruma River and Iriso village, Iruma County, Musashi Province,  at the turn of the 15th century.  God Opoanamudi was invited and Nenoko Shrine was founded in 1416.

     Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439) became the 4th Kanto Deputy Shogun in 1409 at the age of 11.  Uesugi Ujinori (?-1417) became the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate in 1411 in his 40’s.  As Mochiuji entered the rebellious stage, he preferred Uesugi Norimoto (1392-1418).  Mochiuji replaced Ujinori by Norimoto in 1415.  Ujinori rebelled against Mochiuji in 1416, and gained control of Kamakura, from where Mochiuji fled to Suruga Province.

     A Buddhist hermitage was built by Neno Shrine in 1428 to take care of the shrine.

     In the Muromachi Period, whose central government was located at Muromachi in Kyoto, the Kanto area was half-independent and was governed by the regional government in Kamakura, which was ruled by the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  Both the central shoguns and the Kanto deputy shoguns were from the Ashikaga Clan.  The both rather rivaled each other and some Kanto deputy shoguns even tried to become central shoguns.

     To check the rivaling attempts, the central shoguns appointed some powerful Kanto samurais to be directly feudatory to them.

     Those directly feudal to the central shoguns were called Kyoto Servants.  Although they resided within the jurisdiction of the Kanto Deputy Shogun, they neither had to serve the Kamakura office nor were supposed to be under the command of the Kanto Deputy Shogun.  

     The Kyoto Servants in Kanto included the Takeda Family in Kai Province, the Yamairi, Oguri, Makabe and Daijo Families in Hitachi Province, and the Utsunomiya, Nasu, and Onodera Families in Shimotsuke Province.  They often took anti-Kanto-Deputy-Shogun movements, and the central shogunate criticized them ostensibly but was actually pulling strings.  That, of course, irritated the Kanto Deputy Shoguns.

     In 1423, the 5th Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Mochiuji (1398-1439), finally destroyed Oguri Mitsushige (?-1423) and his family as a warning to other Kyoto Servants.

     Ujinori was finally forced to commit suicide on Joanuary 10th, 1417.  In 1425, Ashikaga Yoshikazu (1407-1425), the 5th Shogun, died young.  In 1428, the 4th but retired Shogun, Yoshimochi (1386-1428), died.  The shogunate became vacant, and Mochiuji had a burning ambition to become the 6th Shogun.  A political and military upheaval was threatening.  Someone might have wanted to seclude themselves in a Buddhist hermitage.

     Priest Sonsho (?-1533) changed the hermitage into a Buddhist temple sometime between 1521 and 1527.

     Ashikaga Masauji (1462-1531) became the second Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun in 1489.  First, he cooperated with Uesugi Sadamasa (1446-1494), who was the head of the Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Family, but after Sadamasa’s death, Masauji went over to the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate, Uesugi Akisada (1454-1510), who was the head of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi Family.  In 1496, Masauji fought against Sadamasa's son, Tomoyoshi (1473-1518), in the Battle of Musashi-Kashiwara.  On November 13th, 1504, Masauji fought against Tomoyoshi again in the Battle of Tachikawanohara.  Those battles were part of the Chokyo War fought in the Kanto Region from 1487 to 1505 between the Yamanouchi-Uesugi and Ogigayatsu-Uesugi Families.  After the 2 families were reconciled in 1505, however, Masauji realized he had been made use of as a banner.  His first son, Takamoto (1485-1535), and his second son, Yoshiaki (?-1538), parted from him to be another Kanto Deputy Shogun.  Masauji's important and powerful vassals left him one after another.  In 1512, he was forced to abdicate by Takamoto.  Ironically enough, Masauji counted on Tomoyoshi and moved to Kuki, Musashi Province.  Masauji changed his residence into a temple and named it Kanto-in. In 1518, Masauji’s 2nd son, Yoshiaki (?-1538), parted from Masauji and Takamoto, called himself a Kanto Deputy Shogun, and based in Oyumi Castle in Shimousa Province.  Someone might have wanted to have a Buddhist temple.

     Jigen-ji Temple was authorized as a Buddhist temple in 1549.

     In 1546, Hojo Ujiyasu (1515-1571) defeated Ashikaga Haruuji, (1508-1560), who had forced Takamoto to resign and became the 4th Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun in 1531, Uesugi Norimasa (1523-1579), who was the Regent of the Kanto Deputy Shogunate and who was the last head of the Yamauchi-Uesugi Family, and even killed Uesugi Tomosada (1525-1546), the last head of the Ogigaya-Uesugi Family in the Siege of Kawagoe.  Ujiyasu's military success, however, brought his finances in critical condition, and imposed a heavy burden on his people.  In 1549, a great earthquake hit the Kanto Region, and many peasants in his domain gave up their fields and abandoned their villages.  Ujiyasu had to reduce taxes.  Approving tax-free fields to a Buddhist temple was one way to reduce taxes of a village.

     Sonsho was also the priest of Tokurin-ji Temple, which is the #17 member of the Musashino 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, and which is located about 800 meters north-east of Jigen-ji Temple.  Tokurin-ji Temple's graveyard lies about 200 meters north-east of Tokurin-ji Temple.  They are so near.  Mamiya Kotonobu (1777-1841) pointed out in the New Topology and Chronology of Musashi Province that Jigen-ji Temple might have been in the precincts of Tokurin-ji Temple.

Address: 1 Chome-9-37 Irumagawa, Sayama, Saitama 350-1305

Phone: 04-2952-2611

Tokurin-ji Temple

Address: 2 Chome-3-11 Irumagawa, Sayama, Saitama 350-1305

Phone: 04-2952-2507

Tokurin-ji Temple Graveyard

Address: 3 Chome-3 Irumagawa, Sayama, Saitama 350-1305