Virtual Shimokita 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #33 Osorezan Bodaiji Temple

 

     Mount Osore is one of the three most sacred mountains in Japan, along with Mount Hiei and Mount Koya.  Locals have long said, "When people die, they go to Mount Osore."  The sacred grounds, surrounded by the outer rim of the mountain, are a cut-off place that cannot be seen from the outside.  When you cross the drum bridge over the Sanzu River and enter the sacred area, a landscape that is said to resemble the afterlife spreads before your eyes.  Gokurakuhama Beach, with its beauty reminiscent of the Pure Land, Jigokudani, with its sulfurous smell, the desolate Hell of Endlessness, and Pond of Blood Hell...  At Sai no Kawara,  or Sai Riverbank, there are stones piled up by parents to mourn their young children who have died, and pinwheels spinning round and round, showing the parents' sorrow and sadness.

     Osorezan Bodaiji Temple was founded in 862, about half a century after the death of Sakanoue Tamaramaro (758-811).  That means the Imperial Army hardly reached the northern part of today's Iwate Prefecture.  Then, where did Buddhism come from to the Shimokita Peninsula?

     It might have come from Ideha Province, or, in a broader sense, from the continent across the Sea of Japan.

     In 727, the King of Balhae, Da Muye (?-737), launched a delegation of 24 envoys led by Gao Len-i.  The delegation arrived in the land of Emishi in Northern Japan by misfortune.  16 envoys, including Gao Len-i, were killed by Emishi.  The other 8 escaped under the provisional leadership of Gao Je-deog, and reached Ideha Province.

     It occurred 6 years before the advance of Japanese power to Akita.  The envoys found either the estuary of Omono River, that of Yoneshiro River, where Nushiro Port was located later, or that of Iwaki River, where Tosa Port flourished centuries later.  In those areas, at that time, Japanese and Emishi powers were clashing head-on.  The envoys might have been unfortunately mistaken for Japanese sea forces, and were attacked.  The surviving envoys left Japan next year, with the information that the archipelago was divided into the north, which was sparsely populated and less advanced than the south, and the south, which was densely populated and less advanced than Balhae and which were willing to offer many products of fabric as presents.

     In 739, Balhae sent another delegation to Japan.  This time again, they got plenty of fabric products  in exchange for hides.   Those pieces of information from the 2 delegations might have interested especially the Tiei tribe.  In 746, over 1,100 Balhae and Tiei people arrived in Ideha Province.  The number implied it was rather a big migration to be just envoys.  After getting some clothes and food as they might have expected, they were deported.  They left Ideha Province.  But to where?  They might have continued to sail north.  First, they might have invaded the estuary of Yoneshiro River, outnumbered the local Emishi people, and occupied or built Nushiro Port.  And then some of them might have continued to sail further north, reached the estuary of Iwaki River, outnumbered the local Emishi people, and occupied or built Tosa Port there.  With the knowledge of navigation, it might have been they who also built 2 ports to wait for better winds.  One was in Onga between Akita and Nushiro, and the other was in Fukaura between Nushiro and Tosa.  Those ports made the navigation across the Sea of Japan safer and more secure.

     Ideha Fortress in Akita came to be called Akita Castle by 761.  The Akita area at the time was sparsely populated, and no large-scale villages were found.  The fortress was in the front line.  A kind of farmer-soldiers were sent to the area mainly from Koshi and Shinano Provinces, and a kind of a small “castle town” was formed around the fortress.  The villagers consisted of immigrant farmer-soldiers and “subordinate Emishi”, who had surrendered themselves to Japan.

     In 771, 325 people took 17 separate ships and unusually sailed against south winds to Japan from Balhae in June (in August by Gregorian Calendar).  They arrived at Nushiro Port in "barbarian lands" of Ideha Province.  It is “surprising” that such a big fleet at the time orderly sailed, yet orderly strayed north, and orderly arrived at a port town in “barbarian lands.”  It was more than likely not a coincidence.  In calculation, about 20 people were on board a ship on average.  If about 40 people were aboard on an envoy ship as usual, many of the other 16 ships could have been smaller, just as small as fishing boats.

     Let's take a different perspective on the issue.  They might have avoided the winter when winds and waves were too hard for small fishing boats, although they had to row.  The envoy ship led the other fishing boats so as that they could get to the sparsely populated area safely.  Another 285 people stayed in Nushiro Port to engage in fishing and smuggling, and inhabited there, probably with their senior colleagues who had arrived there about a generation before.  It was a deliberate and coordinated migration plan to add human resources to their colony port towns.

     In the 15th century, the Ando Pirates, who were based in the Tosa Port, and the Nanbu Family, who were based in the central part of Mutsu Province, struggled for supremacy in Shimokita Peninsula, which faces the Tsugaru Channels between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific.  It's not surprising if Buddhism in the peninsula was brought across the Sea of Japan.

Address : 3-2 Usoriyama, Tanabe, Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, 035-0021

Telephone : 0175-22-3825