Virtual Old Mutsu 33 Kannon Pigrimage #10 & #11 Kannon-ji Temples

 

     2 Kannon-ji Temples were founded in Iwai County, Mutsu Province.  The county was organized in 804 and the Old Mutsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized in 811.  The temples could have been founded sometime between 804 and 811.  One was founded near the junction of Satetsu and Toriumi Rivers, and the other was founded in today's Kannonji.  Their surrounding areas came to belong to Shibutami Village later.

     One of the 2 Kannon-ji Temples enshrined a wooden Avalokitesvara sitting statue which was made in the 12th century and was merged into today's Tosen-in Temple in 1897.  Tosen-in Temple also has an iron Avalokitesvara statue.  It is unknown when the iron Avalokitesvara statue was cast.  As the upstream of Satetsu River, namely Iron Sand River, used to have iron works, the statue might have been cast locally.  It was enshrined in Kazan-ji Temple, which was first located in Takemachi along the Satetsu River, and which was then moved to Hinata along the Toriumi River.  In Hinata, the temple was renamed Choju-ji in 1520, but was abolished after the Meiji Restoration and merged into Tosen-in Temple.  The original 2 Avalokitesvara statues might have been lost in fire or something.

The question is whether the iron production had something to do with the foundation of Kannon-ji Temples or the production started after the foundation.

     Around 1,000 B.C., Primorsky was already in the Iron Age.  It isn't surprising if the northern foreigners introduced iron manufacturing across the Sea of Japan.  In addition, the Mokusawa Iron Manufacturing Site in Tsugaru is estimated to date back to the 10th century, but its excavation suggests that the site had been built above the older iron manufacturing site.  That means their operation can date back to the 9th century, when the northern foreigners forced back south the Japanese Imperial Army along the Japan Sea coast.

     As for the Imperial Army, they organized Namekata County in 701, splitting the land of Ukita Kuninomiyatsuko, who ruled the northernmost part of the Pacific coast of today's Fukushima Prefecture, and produced ironware arms there to support the invasion of northern foreigners. 

     In central Japan, a low box-shaped furnace was used to refine iron, and, in northern Japan, a vertical furnace was used.  2 iron cultures, one from west and the other from north, clashed against each other in Mutsu Province.

Address: Kannonji Daitocho Shibutami, Ichinoseki, Iwate 029-0521

Tosen-in Temple

Address: Kobayashi-35 Daitocho Shibutami, Ichinoseki, Iwate 029-0521

Phone: 0191-75-2570

Former Kazan-ji Temple

Address: Takemachi Daitocho Shibutami, Ichinoseki, Iwate 029-0521

Address: Hinata Daitocho Okita, Ichinoseki, Iwate 029-0603

Satetsu River Tatara Iron Works Museum

Address: Daitocho Ohara, Ichinoseki, Iwate 029-0711