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