Virtual Mogami 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #6 Koryu-ji Temple

 

     Tradition says that an Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha image was enshrined in Hirashimizu Village, Mogami County, Ideha Province, by Minamoto Yoriyoshi (988-1075) after his bitter triumph in the Former Nine Years' War or the Early Nine Years' War (1051-1063), in which the northern people rebelled against the Imperial Court in Mutsu Province, on his way back to Kyoto.

     During the war, Minamoto Masayori was appointed as the Governor of Ideha Province in 1057.  What he did was, however, capturing Abe Norito and Masato, who fled from Mutsu Province to Ideha Province after their defeat in the war.  Yoriyoshi must have felt frustrated against Masayori.  It is very unlikely that Yoriyoshi called on Masayori at Ideha Province to found a temple.

     Anyway, the Ekadasamukha image was first enshrined along the upper stream Mamigasaki River (Niiyama, Yamagata, 990-0015), and then was moved at the foot of Mt. Chitose along the river.  Later it was moved again to its present place at the other foot of the mountain along Hazukashi River, which forms its alluvial fan.

     Legend has it that Priest Hakubyo put dragons down and developed fields and farms.

Alluvial fans are formed when river water that contains large amounts of gravel in mountainous areas suddenly releases the gravel once it runs out of the mountains, forming natural gravel embankments on both banks.

     As sedimentation progresses in a river, the river bed becomes higher than the surrounding area. When a section of a natural levee breaks, the water outflows, and the river channel is altered, allowing floodwaters to flow through the surrounding low-lying land.  In this way, the river watercourse changes many times.

     In the legend mentioned above, the changing watercourses might have been metaphorically depicted as dragons.

     Presumably, mountain people who had lived along the upper stream of Mamigasaki River developed the alluvial fan in the middle reaches of the river, and then their offspring developed the alluvial fan in the middle reaches of Hazukashi River.  They brought their Ekadasamukha image to newly developed areas.

     Koryu's ko means to develop and ryu means dragons.

Address: 95 Hirashimizu, Yamagata, 990-2401

Phone: 023-631-7570

Mt. Chitose

Address: Hirashimizu, Yamagata, 990-2401