Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Saimyo-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when and exactly where Saimyo-ji Temple was founded.

     Hojo Tokiyori (1227-1263) was a very popular statesman who built a welfare-warfare shogunate.  He shortened regal proceedings and ensured fairness.  Ordinary samurai were to guard either Kyoto or Kamakura for half a year, but he shortened the term to 3 months.  He also protected ordinary people’s livelihood.  He invited Priest Lanxi Daolong (1213-1278) from Yuan China.  Daolang had been born in Shu Province (present-day Sichuan Province), China. Due to the Mongol Conquest of the Song Dynasty in China in 1246, he sailed to Japan to preach Chan Buddhism, and founded Kencho-ji Temple in Kamakura in 1253.  Tokiyori also invited Wuan Puning (1197-1276).  Wuan is pronounced “gottan” in Japanese.  He made such difficult lectures that they were troublesome for his students.  We came to use the Japanese phrase “gotagota” for something troublesome after Wuan’s troublesome lectures.  Meanwhile, he destroyed his rivals such as Miura Yasumura (1184-1247) and Chiba Hidetane (?-1247).

     Tokiyori's popularity helped inspire the Noh play, Hachinoki:

     At dusk with snow falling heavily, a traveling monk appeared at the hermitage on the outskirts of Sano Village and asked for a night’s lodging. The resident samurai refused at first.  He was too poor to entertain him.  But he let the monk in, who was suffering from the snowy road.  He served a small meal. His name was Sano Genzaemon.  He said that he formerly owned more than 30 villages, but that he was deprived of everything by the embezzlement of his relatives and fell down to his current condition. As he talked, all the firewood was exhausted and the fire was about to go out, but there was no firewood to add. Genzaemon brought three pots of pine, plum, and cherry, which were his proudest possessions that had been collected in the old days when he had prospered.  He found them useless now, and used them as firewood.  He broke them and put the pieces on the fire. Although he had lost everything, he still kept his armor, naginata (a Japanese halberd) and an old horse.  He said that once he was summoned from Kamakura, he would ride on his horse and rush to Kamakura with his naginata as soon as possible and fight to his life.

     In the New Year, spring came, and suddenly Kamakura made an emergency call. Genzaemon put on his old armor, carried a rusty naginata on his back, and rushed on a thin horse.  When he arrived in Kamakura, he was summoned before Hojo Tokiyori. While the generals were lined up, Tokiyori said to Genzaemon who prostrated in torn armor, "Do you remember the monk traveling in the snowy night? That was actually me.  I'm glad that you've come so early."  Tokiyori not only returned Genzaemon his former territories, but also gave him three territories (the territory of Umeda Manor in Kaga Province, Sakurai Manor in Ecchu Province, and Matsuida Manor in Kozuke Province) as new prizes. Genzaemon gratefully withdrew and returned to Sano Village cheerfully.

     The Noh play, Hachinoki, is said to have been based on a legend in Echigo Province.

     Tokiyori became a Buddhist monk with his Buddhist name Saimyoji.  He went on a walking tour all over the country to see people's situation.

     During his journey, Tokiyori asked for staying overnight at a poor house in Echigo Province.  When he was about to leave the next morning, the wife gave birth.  She said to Tokiyori, who was about to depart, "I have given birth to babies in the past, but for some reason they were weak and did not grow.  Would you please give my baby a name so that the baby will grow up strong?"  Tokiyori thought about it for a while and named the boy baby Saimyoji after his own Buddhist name.

     Eventually, the boy Saimyoji grew up to be an adult and had the opportunity to go to Kamakura.  When he visited the Regent Office, an official asked him his name.  Saimyoji told the official his name and the story about the origin of his name, which he had heard from his mother.  The official told Tokiyori.  Tokiyori was happy and expressed his gratitude for the night to Saimyoji.

     Afterwards, Saimyoji decided to become a monk with the blessing of Tokiyori, and named his temple Saimyo-ji.

     As I have told you sometimes, Japanese people love to visit "holy lands" of stories and tanka poems.  So did the Uesugi Clan.  They brought Saimyo-ji Temple with them when they moved from Echigo Province to Aizu and then from Aizu to Yonezawa.  Is my story full of lies?  Or does it have some lies?  Or a few Lies?  I don't know.

     The Uesugi Clan was promoted from Echigo to Aizu in 1598 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598), and then was shunted  to Yonezawa in 1601 by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616).

     Another Saimyo-ji Temple in Niigata Prefecture, which used to be Echigo Province, claims to be the very Saimyo-ji Temple that was visited by Tokiyori and that changed its name from Senju-in to Saimyo-ji.  The Saimyo-ji Temple in Niigata Prifecture belongs to the Echigo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage as its #33 member temple.

     Saimyo-ji Temple in Okitama enshrines Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha while Saimyo-ji Temple in Niigata enshrines Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja, which was enshrined there before the visit by Tokiyori.

Address: 1561 Toyamamachi, Yonezawa, Yamagata 992-0066

Phone: 0238-22-0568

Saimyo-ji Temple

Address: 193 Innai, Sanjo, Niigata 955-0115

Phone: 0256-47-2132