Shonai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

 

     In 1695, Ogiwara Shigehide (1658-1713) became an official with responsibility for finance, which is almost equivalent to the Minister of Finance today.  In those days, the Tokugawa Shogunate faced a financial crisis.  To solve the problem, Shigehide took advantage of the fact that the Japanese society at large was going to experience deflation because the production of gold and silver was declining and gold and silver were flowing out of Japan due to the trade deficits.  Shigehide believed that as long as the Tokugawa Shogunate enjoyed public confidence, the currency supplied by the shogunate would keep in circulation.  That belief in his mind, he started re-minting gold and silver coins and reduced the content of gold and silver.  That caused the shortage of copper, and he made copper coins thinner.  Jin Yoshi reported that Shigehide said, “Currency is what the state provides.  Even debris will circulate.”  He realized the annual inflation rate of 3 percent.  Wealthy merchants and wealthy samurai were afraid that their savings would effectively decrease, and invested the capital.  He stimulated the economy by increasing the money supply.  In other words, he realized reflation In the 17th century.  The estimated population of Japan accounted for 5 percent of that of the world, the highest in history.  One out of every 20 human beings was Japanese.

     The problem was, however, the public confidence in the shogunate wasn't that big.  Losing confidence, people wavered between mammon and other isms.

     Priest Tosui of Kotaku-ji Temple chose 33 temples which enshrine Avalokitesvara statues in the Shonai area, Dewa Province, in 1714.  Tosui visited all the 33 temples and composed a Buddhist tanka poem for each temple.  In August next year, the priest of Kusho-in Temple in Tsurugaoka and that of Fukusen-in Temple in Shiroganemachi proposed to organize an association to answer Tosui's religious efforts and 6 people of Matsuyama-machi and 2 farmers from Shima and Fujishima Villages answered to the proposal.  At first, they called the pilgrimage just Our Province 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  The pilgrimage became very popular because they were at the foot of the Three Mountains of Dewa: Mount Haguro, Mount Gassan, and Mount Yudono.  The Shonai Domain government was afraid that spies would sneak into the domain hiding among the crowd of pilgrims and suspended the pilgrimage.  After World War II, the pilgrimage was revived to pray for world peace and was named Shonai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.