Virtual New Mutsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #8 Baikei-ji Temple

 

     Hitsujizaki Shrine was founded in 271, just a couple of decades after Cao Rui (204 or 205–239), the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei, or Cao Fang (232–274), the third emperor, recognized a Japanese queen as the ruler of Japan.  It’s surprisingly old.  In those days, the queen’s rule didn't reach even Ise Bay, needless to say the Tohoku Region.  Then, the shrine must have been founded by those who were later called northern foreigners in the hill which commands the mouth of Kitakami River.

     In legendary times, Okinagatarashi, a legendary empress, was said to have made a military expedition to Silla in the Korean Peninsula.  A historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla) recorded 14 organized piracies by Wa, the Japanese kingdom, by the end of the 4th century, and Okinagatarashi’s expedition to Silla might have been one of those piracies.

     Some Japanese tribes supported the piracies.  One of them believed in Watatsumi, a tutelary water deity in Shinto.  The tribe later advanced to the mouth of the Kitakami River and enshrined their god at the northern foot of Hitsujizaki Shrine.

     At the turn of the 5th century, General Taji was dispatched from Kozuke Province to Ishiminato, namely Stone Port, which was located at the mouth of Kitakami River, to suppress the northern foreigners around the port.  He, however, was killed in battle.

     Oshika County was organized in the first half of the 8th century.  In 759, Monou Fortress was built in the north of the port and Monou Couty became independent from Oshika County.  In those days,   the new pirate-like settlers from the west developed Jori-system-like rice fields at the northern foot of Hitsujizaki Shrine along Mano River, a branch of Kitakami River.

     In the 8th century, rice fields were rezoned by the unit of 11,881 square meters.  Horizontal 6 units were called Jo, and vertical 6 units were called Ri.  Accordingly, the rezoning system was called the Jori system.  On March 26th, 815, 36 people who had developed the rice fields were given the surname Mano.  It is unknown whether Mano River and Mano Village were named so after the Mano Families or vi-ce versa.

     The settlers seemed to be getting a foothold in the east bank of the lower Kitakami River but the northern foreigners, who might have been called Magi, were not obedient or docile.  In 816, the Imperial Army intruded into the Hitsujizaki Sanctuary and killed the chief's wife and, presumably, her female followers.  They were afraid of her curse and enshrined Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, later.  That means they did what should be cursed.  What did they do?  Genocide?  Mass violence?

     Later, Watatsumi was moved to Hitsujizaki Shrine.  The shrine was first documented in 859.  Its shrine temple, Magiyama-dera Temple, had been founded in 798.  Magiyama-dera Temple was renamed Chozen-ji sometime between 1658 and 1660.  The temple was abolished after the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868.  Its deity and its membership of the New Mutsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage were transferred to Baikei-ji Temple.

     Baikei-ji Temple originally belonged to Tiantai School, but, in 1363, priest Tenzen converted it to the Caodong Chan Sect.  Tenzen worked hard to spread the sect in Mutsu Province.

     The Southern and Northern Courts Period started in 1337.  The Southern Court's forces were expelled from Mutsu Province in 1353.  Peace at last?  The reality is always ironic, and 4 guardian samurai coexisted in the province: Kira Mitsuie, Nihonmatsu Kuniakira, Ishido Yoshimoto (?-1354), and Shiba Iekane (1308-1356).  They let county steward samurai to carry out maintenance of the public order and compulsory execution to win the support of local powerful samurai.  They had bloody battles in short.  Samurai who spent all their time in fighting loved Chan Buddhism rather than studying doctrines.

Address: Magiyama−8, Minato, Ishinomaki, Miyagi 986-0011 

Phone: 0225-22-0914

Hitsujisaki Shrine

Address: Magiyama-7 Minato, Ishinomaki, Miyagi 986-0011

Phone: 0225-23-2815