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