Virtual Hachinohe Castle Town 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Okada-Kannon-do Hall

 

     The Tachibana Clan was one of the 4 most powerful noble clans in Japan's Nara and early Heian Periods.  The other 3 were the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Taira Clans.  In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Tachibana Clan were eclipsed and eventually became scattered across Japan.

     Some members of the Tachibana Clan settled in eastern provinces and became samurai.  Tachibana Tomoyasu (?-944) played an active role in the defensive battle against Taira Masakado (?-940), and many samurai families were born claiming to be his descendants.  Some Tachibana Clan members also settled in Dewa Province.  Tachibana Yoshinori was active at the end of the 10th century, and the brothers Tachibana Sadayori and Yorisada fought for Kiyohara Takenori in the Former Nine Years War (1051-1062).  Tachibana Kiminari fought for Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), became a manor steward of the Ogashima, and also was given a territory in Akita County.

     According to tradition, Tachibana Toemon came from Shonai County, Dewa Province, in 807 with his 5 centimeters-tall gold image of Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja.  As 807 is the legendary year when countless shrines and temples are said to have been founded in Dewa and Mutsu Provinces, it must have been after the 10th century that Toemon moved.

     Okada Kannon was first documented in 1665.

     Presumably after the Meiji Restoration, the original gold image was moved to Gassan Shrine in Kagota, and a 30-centimeters tall wooden statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, is enshrined in Okada-Kannon-do Hall.

Address: Okada, Matsudate, Hachinohe, Aomori 031-0815

Kagoto-Gassan Shrine

Address: Kagota-38 Matsudate, Hachinohe, Aomori 031-0815