Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Chinzo-ji Temple

 

     Chinzo-ji Temple was founded in Urushiyama Village, Okitama County, Dewa Province, in 1460 by Priest Sozo.

     Urushiyama Village was developed where the Orihata River runs out of hills.  The village has an itabi dated 1354.  The village might have been developed by a samurai from the Kanto Region, where building itabi was popular among samurai.

     Nagai Hirohide was active as a member of the Northern Court from Mutsu Province to Kyoto, but the Date Family of Date County, Mutsu Province, which was adjacent to Okitama County, Dewa Province, sided with the Southern Court.  The 2 families were in conflict.  In the Southern and Northern Courts Period(1336-1392), the power of local feudal lords became stronger in the Tohoku Region.  The Nagai Family held important positions in the Ashikaga Shogunate and stayed in Kyoto and Kamakura, while the Date Family stayed in Date County and steadily increased their power.  However, in the conflict between the Northern and Southern Courts, the Northern Court had an advantage, and the Date Family also switched to the Northern Court and reached a compromise with the Nagai Family.

     The itabi was built when the Nagai Family was at their peak.  It is, however, unknown whether the builder was on the Nagai Family's side or was upsetting their power.

     Date Masamune (1335-1405) married Yoshiko (1336-1413), the younger sister of the mother of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), the 3rd Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, and gained power as the shogun's brother-in-law.

     Masamune, who became the head of the Date Family in 1377, and his father, Muneto (1324-1385), began to invade other territories to expand their territories.  After taking control of Shinobu County, they advanced to Okitama County, which had a rich basin with rice fields.  In 1380, Muneto led Moniwa Yukitomo and others to invade Okitama County, occupied part of it, and used Takahata Fortress as a beachhead to advance to the whole county.  In response to the Date Family's invasion, Ashikaga Ujimitsu (1359-1398), the second Kanto Deputy Shogun, ordered the neighboring powerful samurai to send out relief troops, and, with their support, the Nagai Family succeeded in forcing the Date Family to retreat.  However, the invasion of the Date Family continued relentlessly, and, in 1385, Masamune attacked and seized the county, causing the Nagai Family to decline.

     The Kyotoku War lasted for 28 years from 1454 to 1482.  During the war, Ashikaga Shigeuji (1438-1497), the Kanto Deputy Shogun in Kamakura, relinquished Kamakura and moved to Koga in 1457.  In 1458, the Muromachi Shogunate sent out another deputy shogun, Ashikaga Masatomo (1435-1491), from Kyoto for Kamakura, but he couldn’t enter Kamakura and stayed in Horikoshi, Izu Province.  From then on, there were Koga Kanto Deputy Shogun and Horikoshi Kanto Deputy Shogun in the Kanto Region.  On October 14, 1459, the 2 camps had a big battle in Ota Manor, Musashi Province. That was the start of the Warring States Period in the eastern part of Japan.

     Under the Date Family's rule, Okitama County became relatively peaceful in the Warring States Period, and its population might have increased.  Chinzo-ji Temple was founded in those days, and did its religious activities relatively quietly.

     Sometime in the Edo Period, the temple’s quiet environment changed suddenly.  As you may know, Japanese people love to visit holy lands: not only religious holy lands but also the holy lands of poems and stories.

     Urushiyama Village was identified to be the location of Tsuru no Ongaeshi.

     Tsuru no Ongaeshi is a story from Japanese folklore in which a crane returns a favor to a man.

     The he-chang-qiu, or the crane cloak, was brought from China and was changed into the haori in Japan.  Haori became a formal wear and became very popular in the Edo Period.

     Let me make a long story short.  Tsuru no Ongaeshi became a very popular story, and even Chinzo-ji Temple was said to have been founded by the husband of the crane after the crane wife left him.  The temple keeps the fabric the crane made, and so on.  The lords of the domain visited the temple.  In 1772, Tase Kichibe built a Kannon-do hall for the temple and enshrined the image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.

Address: 1747-1 Urushiyama, Nanyō, Yamagata 992-0474

Phone: 0238-47-2264