Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #20 Juo-in Temple

 

     Between the Sagae Manor in the east and the Nagai Manor in the west, Shirataka Hills lie.  the Kitsunegoe Pass is the hard part of the route between the 2 manors.  To watch over people and horses that cross the pass, Horse-Headed Hayagriva was enshrined at the western foot of the hills in Juo Village, Okitama County, Dewa Province.

     About 900 meters south-west from the temple, there are 2 mounds where sutras were buried in the 12th century.  It is unknown whether the temple and the mounds had relations or not.  It is also unknown what the sutras were buried for.  Their meanings could have been quite different whether they were buried before the Northern Fujiwara Clan was destroyed by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) in 1189 or after.

     Mound No. 1 on the north side is oval in shape, measuring 12.3 x 9.5 meters, with an overhang 90 centimeters high and 3 meters long, and surrounded by a shallow ditch. A outer tuff container with a cylindrical lid measuring 46.5 centimeters in height and 26 centimeters in diameter was excavated from a burial facility whose interior was constructed from river stones.  A copper barrel which is supposed to have kept sutras in it was discovered in the container.

Address: 24 Juo, Shirataka, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 992-0821

Phone: 0238-32-2929