Virtual Shonai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Ryutaku-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Uchigo Village was developed between Mogami and Aizawa Rivers in Akumi County, Dewa Province.  In the Village, there runs a mountain stream named Myoga-sawa Stream.  Along the stream, there is a deep pool named Daiko-buchi Pool.  The locals used to gathered around the pool to hold a ritual of praying for rain.  Priest Shunsai (?-1466) built a retirement along the river and enshrined a 60.6-centimeter-tall image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, near the pool.  Priest Zenban, the 7th head priest of Soko-ji Temple, founded Ryutaku-ji Temple in 1466 to take care of the pool and the image in 1708.  Ryutaku namely means Dragon Stream.

     The Amarume and its surrounding areas were located above the water level of the Mogami River and could not draw water from the river.  They were vast wilds.

     In 1612, Kitatate Toshinaga (1548-1625), the lord of Karikawa Fortress, constructed an irrigation canal to supply water to those areas.

     Approximately 10 kilometers of irrigation canal was completed in just four months by mobilizing 7,400 workers.  Afterwards, extension work was carried out, and its total length became 32 kilometers.  As a result, approximately 5,000 hectares of new rice fields and 88 villages were developed.

     Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604-1651), the third shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, dissolved many clans to strengthen the power of the shogunate.  This increased the number of masterless and jobless samurai and destabilized society.  To restabilize society, he strengthened the danka system.  Every family was supposed to belong to an official Buddhist temple.

     All in all, Myogasawa Village needed a new temple and Zenban met the needs of the villagers.

Just as Myoga Stream shows up on praying,

So the next world flies to greet me,

As soon as I wish.

     Judging from the year of Shunsatsu's death, he didn't live in Myogasawa for a year.  Time and tide wait for no man.

Address: Sawajiri-140 Myogasawa, Sakata, Yamagata 999-6841

Phone: 0234-62-3629

Shonai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Soko-ji Temple

Address: 8 Sokojisawa, Sakata, Yamagata 999-6831

Phone: 0234-62-2170

Karikawa Fortress Ruins

Address: Karikawa, Shonai, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata 999-6601