Virtual Musashino 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Kannon-ji Temple was founded in Hanno Village, Koma County, Musashi Province.

     The place name Hanno first appeared in history in the 12th century.  Chichibu Motofusa's 4th son, Motokane (?-1199), lived in Hanno and called his family Hanno.  When Minamoto Yoriie (1182-1204), the 2nd Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, ordered Nakano Yoshinari, Wada Tomomori, Hiki Saburo (?-1203), and Ogasawara Nagatsune (1179-1247) to attack Adachi Kagemori (?-1248) in July, 1199, Motokane fought for Kagemori and was killed in battle.  That was the end of the Hanno Family.  It is unknown who ruled the Hanno area afterwards.  The place name Hanno was first documented in 1547.  On May 19th, 1562, Hojo Ujiteru (1542-1590) gave part of the village to Miyadera Yoshichiro.  As Hanno Village was located at the mouth of the valley of the Iruma River, it prospered for supplying logs to Edo. 

     The temple's main deity, the statue of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, was said to have been carved by Kukai (774-835).

     The temple also keeps a drawing of Looking-at-Cascade Avalokitesvara, which was said to have been drawn by Kao, who was a famous painter in the 14th century.  However, it hasn’t been identified who Kao was.

     Some suggest that he was a painter of the Takuma School with the name Jinga, who belonged to the line from Takuma Shoga at the beginning of the 12th century to Takuma Eiga at the end of the 14th century.  He was given the suffix “ga” as an important member of the school.

     The others argue that the Kao was another career of Kao Sonen (?-1345), a monk of Chan Buddhism, who went to Yuan Dynasty China in 1320, studied under Zhongfeng Mingben (1263–1323) and Gulin Qingmao (1262-1329), and returned to Japan in 1326.  Back in Japan, he stayed and studied in Sofuku-ji, Manju-ji, Kencho-ji, and Nanzen-ji Temples.  No contemporary written documents, however, talked about his painting.  Anyway, his style somewhat resembled that of Liang Kai (1140-1210) in Southern Song Dynasty China.

     Tosa Hidenobu published Butsuzo-zui (Illustrated Compendium of Buddhist Images) in 1783.  In the compendium, he listed 33 popular subjects of Buddhism Avalokiteshvara drawings and paintings: #1 Holding-Willow-Spray Avalokitesvara, #2 Naga Avalokitesvara, #3 Holding-Buddhism-Scripture Avalokitesvara, #4 Halo Avalokitesvara, #5 Sitting-on-Cloud Avalokitesvara, #6 Pandara Vasini Avalokitesvara, #7 Sitting-on-Lotus-Leaf Avalokitesvara, #8 Looking-at-Cascade Avalokitesvara, #9 Listening-to-Stream Avalokitesvara, #10 Holding-Fish-Cage Avalokitesvara, #11 Brahman (Virtuous-Lord) Avalokitesvara, #12 Looking-at-Reflected-Moon Avalokiteshvara, #13 Sitting-on-Leaf Avalokitesvara, #14 Blue-Headed Avalokitesvara, #15 Great Commander Avalokitesvara, #16 Life-Prolonging Avalokitesvara, #17 Relief-from-Ruination Avalokitesvara, #18 In-Cave-with-Venom Avalokitesvara, #19 Wave Reduction Avalokitesvara, #20 Anavatapta Avalokitesvara, #21 One-Knee-Drawn-Up Avalokitesvara, #22 Leaf-Robe Avalokitesvara, #23 Holding-Lapis-Lazuli-Censer Avalokitesvara, #24 Tara Avalokitesvara, #25 Sit-in-in-Clam Avalokitesvara, #26 Twenty-Four-Hour Avalokitesvara, #27 Universal-Benevolence Avalokitesvar, #28 Celestial Beauty Avalokitesvara, #29 Brahmani Avalokitesvara, who put palms together, #30 Controlling-Thunderbolt Avalokitesvar, #31 Peaceful-Vajrapani Avalokiteshvara, #32 Holding-Lotus-Flower Avalokitesvara, and #33 Sprinkling-Purified-Water Avalokitesvara.

     Some subjects came directly from the Lotus Sutra Chapter XXV, some were based on folklore in China, and others had been created in Japan.  He put stronger emphasis on the number 33, and might have embellished a couple of subjects to increase the number to 33.  He also might have considered the 33 subjects to be artistically more meaningful manifestations of Avalokitesvara than those from the Lotus Sutra, at least in Japan.

     Kannon-ji Temple was revived by Priest Choyo (?-1735).  It might have been abandoned during the great famine in the 1730’s.

     Bad weather started at the end of 1731.  In 1732, the rainy season lasted for 2 months, and that caused a cold summer.  Harmful planthoppers bred on rice plants.  In 46 domains, their rice harvest was reduced to 27 percent of normal yields.  969,900 people died of hunger.  In the Kanto Region, tax increases imposed by Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751) had weakened the resilience of peasants.

     On May 23rd, 1868, the Battle of Hanno broke out as a part of the Boshin War (1868-1869), the civil war at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.  Shibusawa Seiichiro (1838-1912) organized the 1,500 strong Shinbu Army, based it in Chikan-ji Temple (Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1), Nonin-ji Temple (Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13) and Kodo-ji Temple (Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15) as well as Kannon-ji Temple, fought against the 3,500 strong Meiji Revolutionary Army, and lost within a couple of hours.  The temples burned down.  It was not recorded how many were killed in the battle.  After the Meiji Restoration, Seiichiro became a successful businessman.

     The temple has a Dakini statue.  Dakini is a type of sacred female spirit in Hinduism and Buddhism and was disseminated to Japan through Shingon Buddhism.  It became linked to the Inari God with the fox iconography.

     The temple's precincts also have a statue of White Elephant, which appears in the Encouragement of Climb, which is a manga series written and illustrated by Shiro.

     Kannon-ji Temple is also the #10 member of the Koma 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 5-17 Yamatecho, Hanno, Saitama 357-0031

Phone: 042-973-1331