Virtual New Mutsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     Kannon-ji Temple was founded either in 1247 or in 1248 by Date Masayori (1227-1301).  Its foundation date is too late to be a member temple of the New Mutsu 33 Kannon Pilgraimage, which was organized in 1123.  However, the temple enshrines an image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, which is supposed to have been made at the beginning of the Heian Period (794-1185).  Presumably, the image was the #12 deity of the pilgrimage before the foundation of the temple.

     The place name Manshoji suggests there used to be Mansho-ji Temple there.  According to tradition, Date Tomomune (1129-1199) changed the temple to their family temple when Date County was given to them by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199).  However, the Date Family's first 2 or 3 generations' who's who isn't certain as their childhood names, nicknames, Buddhist names, and posthumous Buddhist names were mixed up.  If Tomomune had been the founder of the Date Family, what could his original family name have been?  Some say it was Nakamura, and others say it was Fujiwara.

     Tradition says that Mansho-ji Temple was moved to Sendai when the Date Family was moved there in 1600.  If so, the chronological order of Kannon-ji and Mansho-ji Temples is contradictory.

Address: Sakamachi-20 Manshoji, Koori, Date District, Fukushima 969-1651

Phone: 024-582-3072

Mansho-ji Temple

Address: 3 Chome-5-13 Kashiwagi, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 981-0933

Phone: 022-234-6858