Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Fumon-ji Temple

 

     Fumon-ji Temple was founded by Monk Kyoun in Kuwayama Village, Okitama County, Dewa Province, in 1514.  Tradition says that there was a large old mulberry tree where the temple's Kannon-do Hall is located.  An epidemic spread in the village, and an old villager was resting at the root of the tree.  He fell asleep and had a dream where he saw a large frog. The frog said, "A monk from the capital is coming.  Rely on him and build a Kannon Hall in this land to enshrine Avalokitesvara."  A few days later, a monk visited the village, and, when the old man told the story to the monk, the monk said, "I had the same dream and came to this land."  The whole village was astonished at its wonder, and the people of the village built a hall together, and it is said that the plague was cured.

     It is unknown what epidemic they had.

     Tagami Yoshio writes in his Reconstruction of Climate Variation of Japan from 11th to 16th Century: According to disaster records in Japan, during the first 30 years of the 16th century, there were colder winters and springs and wetter and warmer summers, continuing from the end of the 15th century. Therefore, the cooling that began at the end of the 15th century, especially in the winter, appears to have continued.

     The cold weather hit the Tohoku Region harder.  The cold weather caused hunger, and hunger and endemic disease often came together.  However, as it was in the Warring States Period, fewer records were kept.

     Kuwayama Village was first documented in 1538.

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