Trees In the Town

Hachinohe Castle Town 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

 

     Iwai Yoshihiko organized 33 temples which enshrined Avalokitesvara statues in the Hachinohe castle town in 1813.  It’s surprising that such a relatively new one has already lost its member temples.

Trees In the Town

Virtual Sannohe 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #? Ota-Kannon-do Hall

 

     Sannohe 33 Kannon Pilgrimage is supposed to have been organized before the Meiji Restoration, and it has lost all its member temples but one.  Even the membership number of the surviving temple, Ota-Kannon-do Hall, is forgotten.

     There used to be a Kannon-do hall in Ota Hamlet, Matashige Village, Sannohe County, Mutsu Province.  Matashige Village was first documented in 1297.  The village had a stock farm at the beginning of the 16th century.

     The hamlet has a shrine but no Kannon-do hall.  It is unknown if the hall had something to do with the shrine.  It is also unknown where the hall’s Avalokitesvara image has gone.

     The shrine is called Marisu-ten.  The Buddhist deity Marici is usually called Marishi-ten in Japanese or Molizhitian in Chinese.  It is unknown whether Marisu is a local accent of Marishi or it is a completely different local deity.

Address: Ota, Kuraishimatashige, Gonohe, Sannohe District, Aomori 039-1703

Trees In the Town

Virtual Toshima 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Kongo-ji Temple

 

     Toshima 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized in the Edo Period and has lost all its member temples but #22.

     Kongo-ji Temple was founded in 1624.

     The temple has double main deities: a Ksitigarbha statue and a statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, which is exhibited annually on July 17th.

     The Ksitigarbha statue was carved by Mokujiki Myoman.  He avoided eating anything cooked and ate porridge of buckwheat and starch.  He wore an unlined kimono even in winter.  He didn't sleep under a roof.

     When he visited Kongo-ji Temple in 1699, smallpox spread and killed 34 children in  Nakauta alone.  He carved his first Buddhist image in the temple.  Later, he traveled around Japan and carved more than 2,000 Buddhist images, and died at the age of 93.

     Ryozui was a monk in Raiko-ji Temple in Chikugo Province.  One night, Avalokitesvara appeared in his dream and told him to go to Hokkaido, where Buddhist enlightenment activities hadn't spread wide enough or deep enough, to comfort and relieve people there, and to make them happy, and said, "I will go there first and wait for you."  When he arrived at Esashi, he heard of a wood which had been washed ashore in Moshiri and which was kept by Atsuya Shichiemon.  It glimmered in lapis lazuli at night.  Ryozui realized that the wood was the Avalokitesvara who was waiting for him, and carved an Arya Avalokitesvara statue out of it.   He had never carved any Buddhist images before but Arya Avalokitesvara appeared out of the wood as if it undressed itself.

Address: 168 Nakautacho, Esashi, Hiyama District, Hokkaido 043-0034

Phone: 0139-52-0645

Trees In the Town

Virtual Ishikari 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Shoko-ji Temple

 

     Ishikari 33 Kannon Pilgrimage has lost its #13-#26 member temples.

     Shoko-ji Temple belongs to the Sanmonto School of the True Pure Land Sect of Pure Land Buddhism.  The Sanmonto School is very minor.  The distribution of its member temples is very limited in Fukui and Sabae Cities, Fukui Prefecture.  The settlers around Shoko-ji Temple might have come from the area.

     The main deity of the temple is supposed to be Amitabha.  It is not recorded whether the temple has an Avalokitesvara statue or not.   

     As Ishikari 33 Kannon Pilgrimage has lost its #28-#33 member temples, Shoko-ji Temple is the last one.

Address: 35-4 NakamuraUtashinai, Hokkaido 073-0406

Phone: 0125-42-2260

Trees In the Town

Virtual Ishikari 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Unkai-ji Temple

We miss from #1 to #11 member temples of Ishikari 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

     Unkai-ji Temple belongs to the Pure Land School of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism.  Its main deity is, as the matter of course, Amitabha.  It is not recorded whether the temple has an Avalokitesvara statue or not.   

Address: 2 Chome 6-5 Myojincho, Takikawa, Hokkaido 073-0032

Phone: 0125-23-2893

Trees In the Town

Endangered 33 Kannon Pilgrimages

 

     In 40 years from 1983 to 2022, 703 temples disappeared.  From 2013 to 2022 alone, 279 temples disappeared.  As temples disappear, so will 33 Kannon Pilgrimages.  Some of the 33 Kannon Pilgrimages have already lost their member temples.  Here, I’m going to virtually visit pilgrimages on the verge of extinction.

     Ishikari 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized along the Ishikari River in the northern half of the Ishikari Plain.  In the southern half, the plain has Sapporo.  But the northern half is rapidly losing population.  Villages have been deserted, and the temples have been out of business.  JR Sassho Line, which used to run along the right bank of the Ishikari River, was to be taken out of service in May 7th, 2020, but, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the last service was moved forward to April 17th, without any good-bye ceremony.