Virtual Kesen 33 Kannon Pigrimage #25 Kodate Kannon-do Hall

 

     Kodate Kannon-do Hall was built in Hieta Village, Kesen County, Mutsu Province, in 1708, just a decade before the organization of the Kesen 33 Kannon Pilgrimage in 1718.

     Hieta Village was owned by Ito Kiyonaga in 1325.  Kiyonaga was from Izu Province and was subject to the Kumagai Family, who were based in Akaiwa Fortress.

     As Izu Province had Ito Manor, where the Ito Family was based, Kiyonaga could have belonged to a branch of the family.

     Kumagai Naoie (1169-1221) fought well when Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199) destroyed the Northern Fujiwara Clan in 1189 in Mutsu Province.  He was given a several villages in Motoyoshi and Monou Counties.  He stayed in Kamakura.  His 3rd son, Naomune, inheritted the villages and built Akaiwa Fortress in Motoyoshi.

     The Kumagai Family and the Kasai Family fought really tough battles against each other.  In 1333, the Kamakura Shogunate collapsed and the Hojo Clan was destroyed.  Kasai Takakiyo invaded Magome Village, Motoyoshi County, in 1336 on the pretext of wiping out the remnants of the Hojo Clan.  To save his parents-in-law, Kumagai Naotoki, the 4th head of the family, advanced to the village, only to be killed.  Kumagai Naoaki, the 5th head of the family, held his fortress and turned away the Kasai Family.  The 6th head, Naomasa, finally surrendered to the Kasai Family, and the Kumagai Family's territories were halved.

     A kakebotoke was given to Kurosaki Shrine on February 18th, 1496.

     A kakebotoke was a Buddhist image on the top of a mirror.  In Shinto, a native Japanese religion, a mirror was an object of worship.  Under the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, people started engraving a petroglyph of a Buddhist image on a bronze mirror in the 10th century.  Later, those images became gorgeous and three-dimensional.  They were made till the end of the Edo Period, but many of them were discarded after the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order was issued by the Meiji Restoration Government in 1868.

     Hamada Hirotsuna had Shigetoshi and Nobukatsu, his 1st and 2nd sons, adopted into the Esashi Family in Esashi County, Mutsu Province, and started invading southward in his 60's.  He defeated Motoyoshi Shigetsugu in the Utatsu Battle in 1586 and annexed the Utatsu area.  In 1587, he challenged Kumagai Naoyoshi, the lord of Akaiwa Fortress, but the battlefront became deadlocked when the Kasai Family supported Naoyoshi, resulting in a ceasefire.  In March, 1588, Hirotsuna again objected to the reduction in his territory and attempted to recapture Yonegasaki Fortress, which had been taken by the Oikawa Family, but was defeated, losing all his territory.

     On June 2nd, 1588, Hieta Village was given to Sugawara Kozukenosuke.  Sometime in the Medieval days, the village was called Hirota.

Address: Tomari Hirotacho, Rikuzentakata, Iwate 029-2208

Akaiwa Fortress Site

Address: Matsukawa, Kesennuma, Miyagi 988-0852

Kurosaki Shrine

Address: Kurosaki-10-1 Hirotacho, Rikuzentakata, Iwate 029-2208

Phone: 0192-56-3671