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.

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