Virtual Shimokita 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #1 Entsu-ji Temple

 

     Entsu-ji Temple was founded in 1522 by Priest Jukaku, who belonged to Caodong Chan School, with the support of the Nejo-Nanbu Family.

     Who was the Nejo-Nanbu Family?

     The Nanbu Family was based in Nanbu Village, Koma County, Kai Province.

     Kitabatake Akiie (1318-1338) was appointed to be a chief of the Mutsu Province on August 5th, 1333, and moved there with his expeditionary force on October 10th in the same year.   Nanbu Moroyuki (?-1338) have visited Akiie at the estuary of Fuji-mi River on Akiie's way to Mutsu Province.  Moroyuki followed Akiie, and was appointed to be the acting governor of Nukanobu County, which spread from the eastern half of Aomori Prefecture to the northernmost part of Iwate Prefecture.  Moroyuki soon built Nejo Fortress, which became the stronghold of the Nejo-Nanbu Family.  The family divided the main part of the county into 9: Ichinohe, Ninohe, Sannohe, Shinohe, Gonohe, Rokunohe, Shichinohe, Hachinohe, and Kunohe.  The county's northern frontier was called Kitakado, which was later divided into Shimokita and Kamikita.  As the prefix Kami was given to the place nearer to Kyoto, Shimokita was the northernmost of the county and covered most of the Shimokita Peninsula.

     Akiie carried out 2 campaigns from Mutsu Province to Kyoto to restore Imperial rule.

     Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) appointed Ashikaga Ienaga (1321-1338) as the General of Mutsu Province in 1335 to contain Akiie.  Ienaga moved to Shiba County in the province and then called his family Shiba.

     On December 22nd, Akiie left Mutsu Province with a 50,000-strong army to Kyoto to fight against Takauji.  On January 2nd, 1336, Akiie attacked Kamakura, defeated the forces of Ashikaga Yoshiakira (1330-1367), the 3rd son of Takauji, and Momoi Naotsune (?-1376), and occupied Kamakura.  The next day, Akiie left Kamakura and continued to advance to Kyoto.  On January 6th he reached Totomi Province, and, on January 12th, he reached Aichi River in Omi Province.  Akiie's army moved an average of about 40 kilometers a day, running a long distance of 600 kilometers in just half a month.  That was the fastest march in Japan.  Akiie's army crossed Lake Biwa in a day and had an audience with Emperor Godaigo (1288-1339) in Sakamoto.  Finally, on January 30th, he defeated Takauji and succeeded in forcing him to leave Kyoto.

     On March 24th, Akiie left Kyoto to return to Mutsu Province.  Ienaga obstructed Akiie but couldn't stop him.

     The emperor and his Imperial Court were spoiled.  They depended on Akiie and ordered him to come back to Kyoto.  Thus, Akiie's second advance to Kyoto from Mutsu Province was unreasonable.  Moroyuki anticipated that Akiie would be killed in battle.  He left everything to his family and accompanied Akiie this time.  They invaded Kamakura again, and Ienaga, the Regent of the Kamakura Office of the Ashikaga Shogunate, lost to Akiie and killed himself in Sugimoto-dera Temple.

     Akiie was, officially speaking, killed by the Northern Court army led by Ko Moronao (?-1351) at the bank of Ishizu River on May 22nd, 1338.  Tradition says Akiie was killed in Abeno on the 16th. Some suggest he was fatally injured in Abeno on the 16th and died somewhere between Abeno and Ishizu before the 22nd.  At least, Kitabatake's soldiers retreated to Wada in today's Izumi City temporarily and advanced back to Ishizu on the 22nd.

     In the Abeno area, Kitabatake Park, which has 4 memorial monuments for Akiie, is just a 10-minute walk from Abeno Shrine, which promotes Akiie to attract visitors.  You can find a tiny shallow valley running north-south between the park and the shrine, or between the hills they stand on. The two hills must have been within a battlefield.  Akiie might have occupied either hill top to command a view of the battlefield, Moronao the other. If Akiie had been killed in the Battle of Abeno, he must have been killed somewhere between the hills.

It was certain Moroyuki was killed in the Battle of Ishizu on the 22nd.

     Moroyuki's offspring not only ruled the central part of Nukabe County but also expanded their territories.

     In 1334, Moroyuki either sent Takeda Nobuyoshi to Shimokita or acknowledged his de facto rule over Shimokita.  Nobuyuki built Kakizaki Fortress, and the Takeda Family was based in the fortress for 5 generations, about 120 years.  Sometime in those years, they called their family Kakizaki.

     As Shimokita was located between the powers of the Nanbu Family and the Ando Pirates, the Kakizaki Family swung between the 2 powers.  Some say the family was subject to the pirates sometime.  On February 25th, 1457, Nanbu Masatsune, the 13th head of the family, finally attacked Kakizaki Fortress, and Kakizaki Nobusumi, the 5th head of the family, escaped to Hokkaido.  It is unknown whether Kakizaki Sueshige (?-1462), who was based in Hanazawa-date Fortress in Hokkaido, was related by blood or not.  As Kakizaki means Oyster Cape, it's a very plain place name.  Anyway, the Nanbu Family directly ruled Shimokita since then.  Masatsune was succeeded by Nobunaga.  After Nobunaga, his direct descendants died very young and it isn't clear who was the head of the family in 1522.  The 18th head, Masayoshi (1543-1610), was born at the end of the Warring States Period (1467-1568) and died in the Edo Period (1603-1867).

     In August, 1455, 2 years before Nanbu Masatsune, the 13th head of the family, attacked Kakizaki Nobusumi in Kakizaki Fortress, Nakatsugawa Shichiroemon dotted 58 place names and 46 samurai names on his rough map of Shimokita Penninsula.  Among the place names, 3 fortresses were shown with the same marks: Kintaijo, Kitanohonjo, and Shinyagata from west to east.

     It is unknown who and what Shichiroemon was, but if he was subject to the Nanbu Family, the family prepared the attack thoroughly.  The Nanbu Family's story depicted that Kakizaki Nobusumi rebelled against the family.  Japanese people love to depict the situation in which they have endured time after time before carrying out attacks from ancient times to World War II.  The Nanbu story is fishy.

Address: 4-11 Shinmachi, Mutsu, Aomori 035-0051

Phone: 0175-22-1091

Ne-jo Castle Honmaru-ato Ruins

Address: Nejo-47 Nejo, Hachinohe, Aomori 039-1166

Phone: 0178-41-1726

Site of Kakizaki Castle

Address: Kawauchimachi Kakizaki, Mutsu, Aomori 039-5204

Site of Hanazawa Fortress

Address: Katsuyama, Kaminokuni, Hiyama District, Hokkaido 049-0601