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.

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