Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Fukahori-Kannon-do Hall

 

     A certain image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was in Kyoto first.  In some way, it moved to Suma-dera Temple in Settsu Province.  Somehow or other, it then moved to Tachibana-dera Temple in Yamato Province.  It then moved to Shirakawa in Mutsu Province, and then to Dairyu-ji Temple in Ideha Province.  In 1716, the Avalokitesvara in Fukabori was stolen.  Finally, the image was invited to its present location, Seigyo-in Temple, on September 16th.  However, as the temple belonged to Shugen-do or mountain asceticism, its Buddhist priest became Shinto priest after the Meiji Restoration.  Now, the image is kept in the attic of the hall, and is displayed to the public only when the hall is reroofed.  If you would like to see the image with a checkered life, you should reroof the hall for yourself.

Address: 595 Toyoda, Oishida, Kitamurayama District, Yamagata 999-4134

Phone: 0237-35-5024

Suma-dera Temple

Address: 4 Chome-6-8 Sumaderacho, Suma Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 654-0071

Phone: 078-731-0416

Tachibana-dera Temple

Address: 532 Tachibana, Asuka, Takaichi District, Nara 634-0142

Phone: 0744-54-2026

Dairyu-ji Temple

Address: 5 Chome-10-6 Nanukamachi, Yamagata, 990-0042

Phone: 023-622-3641

Attamariland-Fukabori

Address: 884-1 Toyoda, Oishida, Kitamurayama District, Yamagata 999-4134

Phone: 0237-35-5055

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Kawamae-Kannon-do Hall

 

     Kawamae literally means River Front.  Kawamae-Kannon-do Hall was built by Abe Yoriyasu, who might have something to do with Abe Yoritoki (?-1057), who was the head of the subordinate northern foreigners based in Mutsu Province, judging from their first names, on a hill which commands the hardest parts of water transport along the Mogami River.  It is unknown whether the hall was built to pray for the traffic safety of the river or as an observation post of river pirates.  In Japan, many sea pirates founded shrines and temples to demand donations or contributions from the passers.

     Did the Abe Family have something to do with the Ando Pirates at the northernmost tip of Honshu?

     Nichiren (1222-1282), a Buddhist priest, wrote an autobiography in 1276 on his behaviors from 1268 to 1275.  In the autobiography, he mentioned Ando Goro, a legendary founder of the Ando Pirates.  According to Nichiren’s narration, Goro was beheaded by Ezo.  His narration sounded that the case was widely known among the readers.

     Who were Ezo?  And what were happening in the region to the north of Japan, including today’s Hokkaido?

     Archaeologically speaking, the Satsumon Culture spread in the northern part of Honshu Island, the southern part of Hokkaido Island, and Sakhalin.  The Okhotsk Culture spread from the Amur River region to Sakhalin, northern Hokkaido Island and other lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk.  The two cultures were coexisting, maybe in peace or maybe in rivalry.  It was at that time that the iron culture started spreading northward from Honshu Island.  The spread of the iron culture meant the spread of iron arms.  And it was at that time that the Mongol Empire was invading the Amur River basin.  The empire had, as a matter of course, the most advanced weapons at the time.  Peoples with iron culture and the empire were competing against each other for natural resources in the Amur River basin:  mainly hides and fur of Amur tigers and Amur leopards and probably feathers of hawks and eagles.

     In 1263, the Mongol Empire took control of the lower reaches of the Amur River, subjugating the Jurchen and other peoples.  The empire encountered the iron-culture peoples in Sakhalin a year later, in 1264.  In 1265, the iron-culture peoples attacked and killed some local people who had allied with the empire.  The two were to clash against each other in Sakhalin.  The empire sent out an expedition to Sakhalin to subjugate the iron-culture peoples in1273, but they failed to make it across the strait.  In 1284, waiting for the strait freezing over, the empire crossed the strait in the winter.  In 1285, the empire deployed a troop strength of 10,000 and attacked the iron-culture peoples.  In 1286, the empire deployed 10,000 soldiers and 1,000 ships and overwhelmed the iron-culture peoples.  They reached the southernmost tip of Sakhalin, and built a castle there.  Although they were once defeated, the iron-culture peoples kept trying to advance into the Amur River basin on the continent in 1296, 1297, and 1305.  In 1297, they crossed the sea into the lower reaches of the Amur River, and tried to abduct hawk hunters.  As hawk and eagle feathers used to be typical exports from north to Japan, they were trying to gain control over exporting the feathers.  They finally became obedient to the empire by paying tribute of hides and fur to the empire.  Paying tribute also meant a kind of barter trading for them.

     Who were iron-culture peoples?  They might have been those who belonged to the Satsumon Culture, the Okhotsk Culture, and probably Japanese, more specifically the Ando Pirates, which might have been formed by the mixture of Balhae, Tiei, Emishi, Ainu, and Japanese people.  Then, what happened around the iron-culture peoples?

     In 1305, the Kagen Rebellion, or the Rebellion of Hojo Munekata (1278-1305), broke out at Kamakura, the samurai capital in Japan.  It was armed infighting within the Hojo Clan, who were actual rulers of the Kamakura Shogunate.  It ceased within 3 months, but shook the foundation of the clan’s authority and power.  The iron-culture peoples in northern Honshu and Hokkaido might have found the Mongol Empire to be a better trading partner.

     If the Ando Pirates were trading bear hides, they were trading with the people in Hokkaido, and Ando Goro might have been killed by the people there.  If they were trading tiger and leopard hides, they were trading with some people in the continent, and Goro might have been killed by Mongolians.

     In 1308, when the iron-culture people and the Mongolian Empire compromised with each other, Prince Moriyoshi was born in Japan, who would later be one of the major leaders to end the Kamakura Shogunate.

     In 1263, Kubilai Khan, the fifth ruler of the Mongol Empire, took control of the lower reaches of the Amur River, subjugating the Jurchen and Nanai peoples as well as the Nivkh, who dwelt near the mouth of the Amur and across the strait on Sakhalin. According to the Yuan Shi, the official history of the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty China, Kubilai’s army conquered the Kugi people of Sakhalin a year later, in 1264. The history claims that the Mongols attacked the Kugi when the Gilimi people, who had already submitted to the Mongol armies, complained that the Kugi had invaded their territory.  Kugi might have been either Ainu or Japanese.

     Gilimi was the Sinicized pronunciation of Gillemi, the name that the Nanai people of the lower Amur used to refer to the people who called themselves the Nivkh.  (The Russians who explored the region in the seventeenth century called them the Gilyak.)  Even today there are still approximately 4,500 Nivkh around the mouth of the Amur and in northern Sakhalin.

     Kugi was the Sinicized pronunciation of Kughi, the Nivkh name for the Ainu.  Among the Tungus peoples of the lower Amur, the name was pronounced Kuyi, a pronunciation that was borrowed into Chinese and written Kui during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).  Approximately 2,500 Ainu lived in southern Sakhalin during the second half of the Edo Period (1603–1868).  From 1905 to 1945, when southern Sakhalin was under Japanese control, the Ainu population was about 1,500.

     In the 1320’s, Ando Suenaga was based in Fukaura Port and his cousin, Ando Suehisa, was based in today’s Aomori City.  They were rivals within the Ando Pirates, and it was Suenaga, who controlled Tosa Port, and, accordingly, who was more interested in the direct trade with the Mongol Empire.  Suehisa, according to the geographical location of his stronghold, preferred the transit trade through Ainu or Kugi people.  To make the matter worse, the Hojo Clan appointed Suehisa local administrator in Ezo.  The rivalry became rebellion.

     Anyway, the Ando Family claimed to be the offspring of the Abe Clan in Mutsu Province.

Address: 905-1 Kawamae, Oishida, Kitamurayama District, Yamagata 999-4133

Phone: 0237-35-2379 (c-o Igari)

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #25 Yosen-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when the image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was enshrined in the middle of the Obanazawa Valley.

     According to tradition, the image encouraged the local people to cultivate wilderness.  So far, the remains of the Jomon Period (14000 B.C.-300 B.C.) have been unearthed but not those of the Yayoi Period (300 B.C.- 300 A.D.) in the valley.  People with advanced rice cultivation and with Buddhism could have come to the valley from the outside into the Jomon Culture society.

Address: 2 Chome-4-6 Fumotomachi, Obanazawa, Yamagata 999-4232

Phone: 0237-22-0669

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Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Yakushi-ji Temple

 

     Takahashi Shinano enshrined Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, on the mountainside at the back of where Ginzan Hot Springs Resort is located to pray for the safety of travelers who came and went between Ideha and Mutsu Provinces.  It is unknown when Shinano lived.

     In the middle of the 19th century, the hall burned down but the statue was rescued by Takahashi Zenzaemon, an offspring of Shinano.  It is enshrined in Yakushi-ji Temple, which was founded in 1130.

     The Later Three-Year War was fought in the northeastern part of Japan in the late 1080s.  It was a kind of internal strife within the Kiyohara Clan.  First, Kiyohara Iehira (?-1087) and Kiyohira (1056-1128) fought against Sanehira (?-1083).  After Sanehira’s death, Iehira clashed against Kiyohira.  From the central government, Minamoto Yoshiie (1039-1106) intervened in the conflict.  The intervention brought victory to Kiyohira, who then picked up his paternal family name, Fujiwara, and the Kiyohara Clan disappeared in 1087.

     After Kiyohira's death in 1128, his first son, Koretsune (1090-1130), and the second son, Motohira (1105-1157), fought over inheritance.  Koretsune and his family were beheaded by Motohira on June 8th, 1130.  Yokushi-ji Temple was founded in those days.

Address: 207 Kamiyanagiwatarido, Obanazawa, Yamagata 999-4332

Phone: 0237-28-2437

Ginzan Onsen Public Bath

433 Ginzanshinhata, Obanazawa, Yamagata 999-4333

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Ensho-ji Temple

 

     The Obanazawa Valley used to have marshland, and the Rokusawa area used to be its bank.  The bank was covered with gigantic muku trees.  To develop rice fields there, people had to cut the trees but they were afraid of their spirits.  A Buddhist monk came to the area, cut the biggest tree down, and carved Buddhist images out of it.  One of them, the image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was enshrined in Rokusawa.  Later, the image and its hall came to be taken care of by Ensho-ji Temple.

Address: 741-3 Rokusawa, Obanazawa, Yamagata 999-4442

Phone: 0237-28-2319

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Ryugo-ji Temple

 

     Sometime between 1661 and 1673, Tsuchiya Matasaburo visited the Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  When he stayed in Kawaraya-ji Temple in Omi Province, he bought an image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  After he returned to Nobesawa Village, Murayama County, Ideha Province, he built a hall in Ryugo-ji Temple, and enshrined the image.

Address: 925-1 Nobesawa, Obanazawa, Yamagata 999-4441

Phone: 0237-28-2331

Address: 436 Tatebekawarayajicho, Higashiomi, Shiga 527-0007

Phone: 0748-22-1065

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Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #21 Kikaku-ji Temple

 

     An autonomous province was a commonwealth that was established in late medieval Japan by the union of samurai within a province or an area of similar size.  It was established near Kyoto, including Kaga, Kii, and Iga Provinces.  It was a type of republic in which there was no guardian samurai or a single lord.  The commonwealth which was a combination of provincial powerful samurai and local samurai was the main body, and they carried out internal governance such as police, prosecution, and tax collection on their own.

     Togashi Masachika (1455-1488) was the guardian samurai of Kaga Province.  Seeking curry favor with Ashikaga Yoshihisa (1465-1489), the 9th Shogun of Muromachi Shogunate, Masachika provided too much military service to Yoshihisa.  That burdened the local samurai and farmers in the province.  In 1488, the commonwealth of local samurai and farmers surrounded Takao Castle, which Masachika held with his over 10 thousand strong garrison.  The number of sieging soldiers increased to over 100 thousand.  On June 9th, Masachika and his son, Ienobu, were cornered to commit suicide.  From that time, Kaga Province was regarded to be the province ruled by people.  The rule was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) in 1580.

     When the commonwealth was destroyed in Kaga, Kanemori Ishiminokami, Mori Mataemon, Kato Soshiro, and some others fled to Ideha Province and made their way to Ikazawa Valley.

     In 1614, 11 years after the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603, Iwaminokami became a priest and founded Kikaku-ji Temple.

Address: 480 Isazawa, Obanazawa, Yamagata 999-4223

Phone: 0237-22-2582

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Seijo-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when the image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was enshrined at the foot of Mt. Tate.

     In 1208, Maemori Imamine built Tateoka Fortress on the top of the mountain.  A mountain fortress at the beginning of the 13th century?  The Warring States Period, when many mountain fortresses were built, was still about 2 and half centuries away.

     Okawa Kaneto, who was based along the eastern shore of Hachiro-gata Lagoon, and who was a remnant of the Oshu Fujiwara Clan, rebelled against the Kamakura Shogunate in the Tohoku Region from December, 1189, to March of the following year.

     In 1189, after destroying the Oshu Fujiwara Clan, Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) appointed Kasai Kiyoshige (1161-1238) as Oshu General Magistrate on September 22nd, and returned to Kamakura on the 28th.  In Mutsu Province, the land of the samurai who had been subordinate to the Oshu Fujiwara clan was confiscated, and many samurai from the Kanto Region, including Kiyoshige, were given the position of manor steward.  On the other hand, the Tagajo Regional Government officials continued to manage the affairs of the region.  In the inland areas of Dewa Province, which were not used as battlefields, the traditional local powerful families kept power, causing friction between the Kanto samurai and the local powers.  In December, a rumor spread that Minamoto Yoshitsune (1159-1189), Minamoto Yoshitaka (1173-1184), and a son of Fujiwara Hidehira (1122-1187), who were supposed to have been killed by Yoritomo, were marching to Kamakura together.

     Kaneto made use of the rumor and made guerrilla fighting in Tagawa and Yamakita Counties, Ideha Province.  He was said to have declared, "Although it is normal to avenge the death of your relative or spouse, there has never been a case of avenging the death of your master, so I will make a case."  He killed Yuri Korehira (?-1190) and Usami Sanemasa (?-1190), who were both subject to the Kamakura Shogunate.

     Kaneto's brother, Tadasue, and Nitta Saburo reported the war situation to Yoritomo.

     On January 7th of the next year, Yoritomo decided to dispatch troops, mobilizing his vassals even west of Sagami Province.  On the 8th, Chiba Tsunetane (1118-1201) and Hiki Yoshikazu (?-1203) set out for Mutsu Province, and on the 13th, Ashikaga Yoshikane (1154-1199) and Chiba Tanemasa (1141-1203) also departed.  The samurai vassals with territories in Mutsu, Kozuke, and Shinano Provinces also advanced one after another.

     Kaneto and the remnants of the Oshu Fujiwara Clan advanced to central Mutsu Province and reached Hiraizumi, the Oshu Fujiwara Clan's ex-capital.  Seeing this situation, the officials of the Tagajo Regional Government yielded to Kaneto.  On February 12th, Kaneto's army clashed with Yoshikane's at Ichihasama, Kurihara County, Mutsu Province.  Kaneto's army suffered a crushing blow and fled.  Kaneto led a remaining force of over 500 cavalry and counterattacked at Kinugawa, but was defeated again.  He crossed the Kitakami River and barricaded himself in a mountain in Nukanobu County.  Yoshikane attacked Kaneto there, and Kaneto disappeared.  After moving around various places including Hanayama, Senpuku, and Yamamoto, Kaneto crossed Kameyama and returned to Kurihara.  On March 10th, at Kurihara-dera Temple, he was killed by a woodcutter with an ax.  His head was examined by Tanemasa, and the rebellion, which had lasted about three months, came to an end.

     Imamine could have stood ready for Kanto samurai's penetrating Ideha Province.  The Maemori Family endured for 4 generations, 52 years.

     In 1261, the Honjo Family came to take over the fortress and lasted for 5 generations, 144 years.

     In the Middle Ages, samurai’s territories were divided among children, including women, but they were not necessarily equally inherited.  There were many cases in which the male who had the ability to lead the family inherited the main part.  This successor was regarded as the family head.  The remaining territories were divided among the other men and women.  While they lived independently, in times of war, they gathered under the family head to form combat groups in times of war, and participated in ancestral and family rituals sponsored by the family head in peacetime.  What was inflicted by the shogunate and/or manor lords was imposed through the family head.  A family head exercised the authority to maintain and manage family rights documents, as well as inspect the territories of other family members.  For the family head, the power of other family members was indispensable to secure the necessary military strength as a fighting group and to expand the territory by newly developing wilderness, etc.  The Kamakura shogunate controlled samurai in remote provinces through samurai groups under the family head system.  Rewards were also given via the family head.  The family head system was closely related to the system of inheritance at the time.

     In the latter half of the Kamakura period (1185-1333), however, the territories of the samurai groups, which were given as rewards, began to disperse, and the blood relationship between the head family and the other branches became weaker.  Some branch families even became independent and chose their own family head.  In some cases, the family head system became a complicated double or triple structure from the point of view of the shogunate.  In addition, as territories were subdivided, each territory became too narrow to support a samurai family, who was supposed to deliver a samurai and a horse.  As the development of new land became difficult, it also became impossible to expand inherited tiny territories.  Under these circumstances, the family head took steps to re-cencerate divided territories.  One-generation inheritance was even created for the family head to get the dividedly inherited land back.  In opposition to such moves by the family head, branch families applied to the shogunate for recognition of their independence from the family head on the grounds, for example, that they were far away from the family head's location.  Many lawsuits were filed both by the family head and by branch families.  Some branch families tried to become subordinates of the Hojo Clan, the highest authority samurai clan in the shogunate, to eliminate the pressure from the family head, who was a direct vassal of the shogunate.  The confrontation between the family heads and their branch families deepened.

     Many branch families of clans other than those of the Hojo Clan tried to become subordinate to the branch families of the Hojo Clan, which was easier for them.  The Honjo Family might have used that type of maneuver to oust the Maemori Family.

     In 1406, Mogami Mitsukuni, the 4th son of Mitsunao (?-1413), took over the fortress and called his family Tateoka, namely Tate Hill.  The Tateoka Family was based in the fortress for 7 generations, 189 years.  The 7th lord, Mitsushige, seized Yuzawa Fortress in Akita, and moved there.  In 1618, Mogami Mitsunao (1559-1629) moved into the fortress and called himslef Tateoka Mitsunao.  This time, military strength mattered.

     Kannon-do Hall is located about 1.5 kilometers South-East of Seijo-in Temple.  The hall used to be managed by Ganjo-ji Temple, which is supposed to be located near the hall, but has been taken care of by Seijo-in Temple since an unknown date.

Address: 9-9 Tateokababa, Murayama, Yamagata 995-0022

Phone: 0237-55-6171

Komatsuzawa-Kannon-do Hall

Address: 6500 Komatsuzawa, Murayama, Yamagata 995-0025

Phone: 0237-55-6171

Tateoka Fortress Ruins

Address: Tateokatate, Murayama, Yamagata 995-0025

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #19 Shuju-in Temple

 

     Prince Otomo (786-840) succeeded to the throne in 823 and became Emperor Junna.  The Otomo Clan changed their name to Tomo to avoid using the same name with the emperor.

     In 871, Tomo Naomichi, the governor of Murayama County, enshrined a Buddhist image, which was a copy of the Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha of Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto, in the lowlands along Shiramizu River.

     Usually, a powerful local family was appointed as a county governor.  Why was a member of the Tomo Clan, the central powerful clan, appointed as a county governor?

     The Otenmon Conspiracy broke out in the middle of the 9th century.

     On March 10th, 866, Oten-mon Gate went up in flames.  On the 22nd, great purification prayers were held in front of Kaisho-mon Gate, and the Great Heart Sutra was recited in Sufuku-ji Temple.  On July the 6th, an imperial delegate was sent to Ise Shrine, and oblations were offered to shrines in Nankai-do Region.

     On August 3rd, 866, out of the blue, Oyake Taketori, a substitute for the-rank-and-file officer in Bicchu Province, notified that Tomo Yoshio (811-868), the third vice-premier, and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.  On the 29th, a daughter of Oyake Taketori was murdered, and Ikue Tsuneyama, Yoshio’s attendant, was tortured as a suspect.  On the 30th, Tomo Kiyonawa was tortured as an instigator.  On September the 22nd, Yoshio, Nakatsune, Ki Toyoshiro, Tomo Akizane, and Tomo Kiyotsuna were convicted of arson, and sentenced to banishment.  Ki Natsui, Tomo Kawao, Tomo Natsukage, Tomo Fuyumitsu, Ki Harumichi, Tomo Takayoshi, Ki Takeki, and Tomo Harunori were convicted of implication, and also sentenced to exile.  On October 25th, Ikue Tsuneyama and Urabe Tanushi confessed having assaulted Oyake Taketori and having killed his daughter.

     Riho Oki (Prince Shigeakira’s Diary) and Okagami Uragaki (The Collection of Notes on Okagami), however, tell us another story.  It transpired like this:

     Fujiwara Yoshimi, the premier’s younger brother, consulted with Tomo Yoshio to oust Minamoto Makoto (810-869).  They told Fujiwara Mototsune(836-891), the adopted son of Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-872), to come, and instructed that it was Makoto who set Oten-mon Gate on fire.  Mototsune was surprised to hear that, and asked them if Yoshifusa knew the story, but Yoshimi answered no.  Mototsune reported the story to Yoshifusa in haste.

     Yoshifusa responded that Makoto had rendered meritorious service to the Emperor, and that it was unreasonable to be accused of the crime when it was uncertain whether the story was true, and then reported to Emperor Seiwa (850-881), “It was I who should be punished first if Minamoto Makoto were to be punished.”  As the emperor did not know the story, he was greatly surprised.

     Eventually on August 3rd, 866, Taketori notified that Yoshio and Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.

     It’s not clear who conspired with whom against whom in the Otenmon Conspiracy.  In Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki’s story, pecking order No.3 and No.4 tried to oust No.2, maybe to get promoted, but failed.  Maybe, it was pecking No.2 who tried to…..  We have a few more clues:

     Fujiwara Yoshifusa, pecking order No.1, had been seriously ill from the end of the year 864 to September 865.  Mototsune was yet to be in his thirties.  Who would be Fujiwara Clan’s leader if Yoshifusa were to die?

     At the end of the year 864, there was also a whistle-blowing that Makoto was planning to revolt with his younger brothers, Toru and Tsutomu.  Yoshio attacked the Minamoto Clan counting on the letter.  Who on earth composed the letter?

     At the time of Otenmon Conspiracy, Taketori was working for Bicchu Province.  He had been a low-ranked officer in Wu Hyoe Fu, a kind of the office of the guards.  Minamoto Tsutomu supervised the office of the guards before he was later promoted to be the vice-governor in Bicchu Province in January, 866.  What a coincidence!

     In the spring of the year 866, Yoshio surrounded Makoto’s mansion house, claiming that he was just sending messengers.

     On August the 3rd, 866, as you already know, Taketori notified that Yoshio and Nakatsune, had set fire to Oten-mon Gate.  On the 29th, Taketori’s daughter was murdered by Tsuneyama.

     Even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who, there is an important lesson to be learned through those incidents; blood will have blood.

     Whether you believe in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, which is usually regarded to be more reliable than other documents, or in Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki, or even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who in the incidents, we can clearly see the outcomes.

     Who was the biggest winner after all the conspiratorial incidents?  Mototsune was.  He successfully became the premier after Yoshifusa’s death, going over Yoshimi’s head, who had actually died before Yoshifusa’s death, though.  Yoshifusa and Mototsune opened a Fujiwara regency regime.

     Who was the biggest loser then?  Tomo Clan were.  They were almost exterminated.  Naomichi had to be satisfied with getting a job as a local politician.  He also invited the gods of Atago Shrine from Kyoto.  Did he turn to gods and Buddhas in trouble, or did his nostalgia for Kyoto cause him to do so?  However, his career since then is unknown.  It is doubtful that he was back to central politics.

     Since 1820, the Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha statue and its hall have been taken care of by Shuju-in Temple.

Address: 1 Chome-12 Honmaruminami, Higashine, Yamagata 999-3783

Phone: 0237-43-7722

Shuju-in

Address: 36 Ko Higashine, Higashine, Yamagata 999-3783

Phone: 0237-43-7722

Atago Shrine

Address: 1 Sagaatagocho, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto 616-8458

Phone: 075-861-0658

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Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Jigen-in Temple

 

     According to tradition, an old monk went on a pilgrimage with the image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, from province to province.  He came to the hillside of Mt. Iwaki, left the image, and disappeared.  Years later, a woodcutter went down the mountain, carrying firewood on his back.  He found the Buddhist image in a bush by the wayside.  In March, 1387, he became a monk, named himself Kyoenbo, and founded Jigen-in Temple.

     Shiba Kaneyori (1316-1379), who fought for the Northern Court, occupied the northern half of the Sagae Manor, to which Iwaki Village belonged, while the southern half was still ruled by Oe Tokiuji (?-1391), who had fought for the Southern Court but surrendered to the Northern Court in 1373, sending his son, Mototoki (1366-1448), to the Kanto Deputy Shogun, Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398).  Mototoki spent 9 years in Kamakura till 1391.

     Kaneyori called his family Mogami.  After his death, his first son, Naoie (?-1410), became the second head of the Mogami Family.  In 1384, Naoie founded Shitoku-ji Temple.  In 1396, he invited the deification of Sugawara Michizane to Koshirakawa-Tenman Shrine.  Kyoenbo might have spent a relatively peaceful life after he became a monk, but how about in the first half of his life, when Sagae Manor was divided into 2?

     In 1716, the temple was reduced to ashes in a forest fire, but its Arya Avalokitesvara statue was kept in paddy and remained unburnt.

Address: 570 Iwaki, Kahoku, Nishimurayama District, Yamagata 999-3503

Phone: 0237-72-3191

Koshirakawa-Tenman Shrine

Address: 3 Chome-4 Kojirakawamachi, Yamagata, 990-0021

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Choto-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when an Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha statue was enshrined on the top of a mountain between Yagisawa and Kumano Rivers in Murayama County, Ideha Province.  Legend has it that a temple was founded for the statue in 731.

     Along the Sagae River at the foot of the mountain, the Naganobori Family lived and took care of the statue for generations.

     After the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, the family preferred Shinto.  They brought the statue down from the mountain and kept it in their storehouse.  Many pilgrims kept visiting the statue.  The family provided their land and founded Choto-ji Temple in its present place in 1897.  In 1898, the temple burned down and the statue burned black.  In 1926, the temple was rebuilt.  In 1952, a substitute Buddhist image was made.

Address: 142 Mutsuai Otsu, Nishikawa, Nishimurayama District, Yamagata 990-0701

Phone: 0237-74-3853

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Chonen-ji Temple

 

     Tradition says that Priest Shinzei (800-860) founded Soji-ji Temple at the foot of Mt. Nagaoka sometime between 859 and 877.  As he retired in 858 and died February 25th, 860, it isn't impossible he visited Ideha Province in 859 but very doubtful.  After the Meiji Restoration, Soji-ji Temple was abolished and its Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha statue was moved to Chonen-ji Temple.  As Sagae-Hachiman-gu Shrine is also at the foot of Mt. Nagaoka, Soji-ji Temple could have been its shrine temple and was abolished due to the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868.

     Chonen-ji Temple was founded by Oe Chikahiro (?-1242) in Sagae Fortress, where the Oe Family, the lords of the Sagae Manor, lived and based.  Accordingly, although Soji-ji Temple was the largest and most important in the manor, Chonen-ji Temple functioned somewhat like the Secretariat of the Buddhist temples there.

 

Address: 2 Chome-4-19 Marunouchi, Sagae, Yamagata 991-0023

Phone: 0237-86-0016

Sagae-Hachiman-gu Shrine

Address: 5-70 Yawatamachi, Sagae, Yamagata 991-0025

Phone: 0237-86-6258

Trees In the Town

Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Kannon-ji Temple was founded in Terayama Hamlet, Shibahashi Village, Murayama County, Ideha Province.  The 15th priest, Entsu, moved the temple about 300 meters south-south-east to its present place in 1802.

     Legend has it that Ono Yoshizane was a county governor in Ideha Province.  He had a daughter who was a gifted poet.  After her success in a highly competitive literary market in Kyoto, she came back home and enshrined her guardian Buddhist image nearby.  Her nickname was Komachi.  That was the foundation of Kannon-ji Temple.

     Oe Mototaka (?-1322) moved from Kamkura to Sagae Manor in 1285.  His first son, Motomasa (?-1359), inherited the manor.  Motomasa's younger brother, Naoyuki, lived in Shibahashi, built Shibahashi Fort, and called his family Shibahashi.  He is said to have been killed in battle.  His son, Tokishi, inherited the fort, but was killed or killed himself in the Battle of Urushigawa in 1368.  After his death, probably for luck, the family called themselves Hashima Family.

Address: 2494-1 Shibahashi, Sagae, Yamagata 991-0063

Phone: 0237-86-4308