Virtual Shonai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Hozo-ji Temple

 

     In the 15th century, an image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was found in a pond along Misome-zawa Stream in Yamadera Village, Akumi County, Dewa Province.

     Priest Jion, the 2nd priest of Soko-ji Temple, founded Hozo-ji Temple for the image in 1431.

     From the Jomon Period, people lived in the Yamadera area, which belonged to Oizumi Manor.  It is unknown why and when the area came to be regarded as a holy place, but the area had sutra mounds since Nara Period (710-794).  Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127-1192) had 89 manors in 42 provinces in 1191.  Oizumi Manor was one of them.  As the emperor robbed most of his manor of Fujiwara Yorinaga (1120-1156) and others, the manor could have belonged to Yorinaga, or the Fujiwara Clan, which started in 669, at large.  After Go-Shirakawa, the manor was inherited by the Jimyoin bloodline.

     It is unknown when the Arya Avalokitesvara image was thrown or hidden in the pond.

     Many immigrants continued to come to ancient Japan, and many of them were from the Korean Peninsula.  When they settled in Japan, they grouped themselves into clans.  Some clans brought Buddhism with them as a private religion within the clan.  It seems that Buddhist statues and Buddhist scriptures had already been brought to Japan even before their official introduction in the middle of the 6th century.  An example of this is Sima Daetdeung, who came to Japan in 522.  According to the Fuso Ryakuki, a Japanese historical text compiled at the end of the 12th century by Priest Koen (1074-1169), Daetdeung and his clan enshrined a Buddhist image in Takaichi County, Yamato Province.

Since then, currents of thought which advocated the expulsion of Buddhism from Japan appeared in Japan's history intermittently.

     The Domon, Kumano, Ampo, and Yakuwa Families ruled Yamadera Village in 1506 with 18 monks.  The village was a holy manor.

In a mountain temple,

As a treasurable image revealed itself,

So Buddhism teachings should build up.

Address: Misomezawa-154 Yamadera, Sakata, Yamagata 999-6821

Phone: 0234-62-2169