Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Genko-ji Temple

 

     Nagai Hirohide was active as a member samurai 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 Southern and Northern 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.

     In the same year when Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) died, his grandson, Yoshimitsu (1358-1408), was born.  Date Masamune (1335-1405) married Yoshiko (1336-1413), the younger sister of Yoshimitsu's mother 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.  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.

     According to tradition, the Endo Family, who ruled Tenoko Village for 120 years, might have been locally promoted by the Date Family.

     The Endo Family founded Genko-ji Temple in Tenoko Village, Okitama County, Dewa Province, in the Warring States Period.  A small golden image of Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha was given by their lord, the Date Family, for the family's military contribution.  The family gave the image to their vassal, Inoue Genzaemon, who built a hall for the image in Ojika Hamlet. When Shirakawa Dam was built in 1971, the image and hall was moved to the precincts of Genko-ji Temple.

     The Endo Family was based in Tenoko Nishi-date Fortress, whose ruins lie in the hill behind JR Tenoko Station.  When the Date Clan moved to Sendai in 1603, the Endo Family moved there too.

Address: 1711 Tenoko, Iide, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 999-1111

Phone: 0238-75-2101

JR Tenoko Station

Address: Tenoko, Iide, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 999-1111

Shirakawa Dam

Address: Iide, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 999-1112