Virtual Musashino 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Tenryu-ji Temple

 

     Tenryu-ji Temple was founded by Saint Rat in Agano Village, Koma County, Musashi Province, in 911.  The saint was born to Aji in Amano Village, Ito County, Kii Province, at the hour of Rat (at twelve midnight), on the day of Rat (on the 5th, on the 17th, or on the 29th), in the month of Rat (in November), in the year of Rat (in 832).

     As Rat is the first of the twelve signs of the Japanese zodiac, he was believed to be a saint, and he actually became.

     At the age of 7, he became a Buddhist monk.  He adored the high virtue of Prince Hachiko (542–641).  After the assassination of his father in 592, Hachiko fled north along the western seacoast of Honshu.  He came ashore in Ideha Province and invested the rest of his life in religious pursuits in The Three Mountains of Ideha: Mt. Haguro, Mt. Gassan, and Mt. Yudono.  There, the prince took good care of people and relieved many of their sufferings.

     Rat practiced Buddhist asceticism in Mt. Yudono.  He set his mind to follow Hachiko's deeds of virtue.  When he arrived at where Koma Bridge is located, he was caught in a forest fire.  His lower body was engulfed in flames, but he kept chanting the Heart Sutra.  A sudden shower put out the forest fire and saved his life.  He perceived the favor of a dragon, arrived at the top of the hill on June 13th, and built a hermitage there.  He died on March 10th, 1012.  Priest Keisei (?-1041) changed the hermitage into a temple and named it Tenryu-ji, namely Heaven Dragon Temple.  The locals believed the temple's main deity, Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha, would answer prayers for recovering from the injuries and illness of lower bodies.

     Did Saint Rat die at the age of 180?

     If you think Saint Rat lived too long, he might have been born in the next year of Rat, in 844.  Then, he was born on the day of Rat (on the 2nd, on the 14th, or on the 26th).  Still too long?  Then, on the day of Rat (on the 11th or on the 23rd) in 856.  Or on the day of Rat (on the 8th or on the 20th) in 868.  Could he have been born on the day of Rat (on the 5th, on the 17th, or on the 29th) in 880?  Was he too young to found a temple if he had been born on the day of Rat (on the 2nd, on the 14th, or on the 26th) in 892?

     Including his birthday, his stories could have been decorated by his followers.  Demons were said to have set fire to prevent Rat from climbing the mountain.  Seeing Rat's Buddhist religious performance, they repented their misdeeds and followed the saint.  That might have mirrored the religious conflicts between Saint Rat, who had mastered mountain asceticism and Buddhism, and the local mountain ascetics.  The mountain top commands a panoramic view of the Kanto Region, and such mountains and hills were generally bases of local mountain asceticism in the region.  In some such places, the conflicts between Buddhists newcomers and the local mountain ascetics were likely severer.  The Agano people were far gentler and far more broad-minded.  Rat responded to their gentleness and broad-mindedness with his religious mind and knowledge.  An independent religion, or at least an independent Buddhist school, was born.  It was in 1705 that Tenryu-ji Temple became a branch of the other temple, Rin'o-ji Temple in Nikko.

     At the turn of the 18th century, the Tokugawa Shogunate's religion policies were even stricter.

     Some of Nichiren Buddhism believers kept the dogma that nothing could be received (Fuju) from or given (Fuse) to those of other religions.  They were called the Fuju-Fuse sect.  In 1669, the movement was outlawed altogether.  Some priests and followers were beheaded.  In 1691, 63 priests and 11 believers were sent to Miyake-jima, Oshima, Kozu-shima, Nii-jima and Hachijo-jima Islands.

     Tenryu-ji Temple enshrines the image of Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha.  Some say the dragon changed into Ekadasamukha, and others say Ekadasamukha changed into Saint Rat in Japan.

Address: 461 Minami, Hanno, Saitama 357-0214

Phone: 042-978-0050

Koma Bridge

Address: 992 Sakaishi, Hanno, Saitama 357-0215