Virtual Shonai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Kaizen-ji Temple

 

     Omonoimi Shrine is a Shinto shrine on Mount Chokai, an active volcano, in Yamagata Prefecture.  The shrine has three parts on different places of the mountain: Fukura-Kuchinomiya and Warabioka-Kuchinomiya at the foot of the mountain, and Sancho-Gohonsha, the main shrine on the mountain's summit.  The plateau which is made from hardened lava of Mt. Chokai meets the Shonai Coastal Dunes at Fukura.  The sand dunes stretch south for about 35 kilometers from Fukura,

     When the Imperial Army reached the area at the beginning of the 8th century, a god was already there.  The god didn't appear either in the Kojiki, Records of Ancient Matters, which is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, and semi-historical accounts down to 641; or in the Nihon Shoki, the Chronicles of Japan, which is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history, and which was finished in 720.  That means God Omonoimi was the god of the northern foreigners.  The Imperial Army built Kinowa Fortress, where the provincial government office was placed, about 30 kilometers south of Fukura.  The fortress was substantially at the forefront for the Imperial Army.  As the matter of course, the Fukura locals regarded Omonoimi more important than Buddhism.

     In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) established the Tokugawa Shogunate, which lasted till 1867, in Edo, Musashi Province.  Under the shogunate's religion policy, every family was supposed to belong to an official Buddhist temple.  In 1612, Priest Kaian, the 17th head priest of Yosen-ji Temple, founded Kaisen-ji Temple in Fukura to meet the needs of the locals.

     The 21st priest of Kaisen-ji Temple, Kankai (1801-1871), was very earnest and active.  He was worried about drowned bodies washed ashore nearby cape.  He made up his mind to carve Buddhist images out of the rocks at the tip of the cape.  He asked for money not only in Fukura but also in Sakata.  When he gathered up the money equivalent to 2 gold coins, he had a stone artisan carve a Buddhist image.  In 1864, the first image was completed.  By 1868, he had had 22 Buddhist images including 16 Arhuts carved.  The rock was called 16 Arhuts Rock.

     Times, however, changed.  In the same year, the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order was issued by the Meiji Restoration Government.  In 1867, all the Fukura locals became Shintoists.  Omonoimi Shrine had several shrine temples, but their Buddhist priests all became Shinto priests.  In 1871, Omonoimi Shrine in Fukura became a state-supported shrine.  On a snowy night in the year, Kankai remained silent, went out of Kaisen-ji Temple, and drowned himself in the sea, only with his footprints left on the snow.

Listening to the waves in Fukura,

I listen to the waves

Washing on the foot of Mt. Potalaka

What sounds did Kankai hear in his last moment?

Address: Yokomachi−54 Fukura, Yuza, Akumi District, Yamagata 999-8521

Phone: 0234-77-2101

Chokaisan-Omonoimi Shrine Fukuraguchi-no-miya Shrine

Address: Nunokura-1 Fukura, Yuza, Akumi District, Yamagata 999-8521

Phone: 0234-77-2301

Omonoimi Shrine

Address: Fukura, Yuza, Akumi District, Yamagata 999-8521

Phone: 0234-77-2301

Chokaisan-Omonoimi Shrine Warabioka-guchinomiya Shrine

Address: Matsugaoka−51, Kamiwarabioka, Akumi District, Yamagata 999-8314

Phone: 0234-72-2552

Yosen-ji Temple

Address: Nakamichi-4 Suguse, Yuza, Akumi District, Yamagata 999-8525

Phone: 0234-77-2122

Juroku Rakan Iwa

Address: Nishidate Fukura, Yuza, Akumi District, Yamagata 999-8521

Phone: 0234-77-3330