Virtual Old Tsugaru 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #28 Nyunai-Kannon-do Hall

 

     In Tome County, Mutsu Province, legend has it that Kofuku-ji Temple was founded after Odakemaru, the chief of local northern foreigners, was killed by the Imperial Army.  A burial mound was built for him, and an Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha image was enshrined.

     In Nyunai Village, Odakemaru was believed to have been killed there and the image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was enshrined sometime between 806 and 810.

     Taira Masakado (903-940)was born in Shimousa Province: specifically and presumably either in Toyoda or Sashima County, which were both along the Kinu River.  Later, he left for Kyoto at the age of either 15 or 16 to be hired by Fujiwara Tadahira (880-949), who was the 2nd Prime Minister at the time and who became the Prime Minister in 924, to climb up the social ladder.  After 12 years or so, he returned to the Kanto Region, without achieving anything in the central political circles.  In 939, Masakado tried to be independent from Japan in the Kanto Region.  He was killed by Tawara Tota (891-958).  Masakado's 2nd son, Masakuni, fled to Ukishima Village, Shida County, Hitachi Province.  Masakuni's son, Kotaro, who called his family Shida, evacuated to Nyunai Village and revived the Kannon-do Hall.

     When Oura Tamenobu (1550-1608) ruled the village, he revived the hall, changed it to a temple, and named it Kafuku-ji.  In 1641, its hall was rebuilt.

     After the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, the hall became Koganeyama Shrine, and the Arya Avalokitesvara image was kept by its worshipper.  Later, when Koganeyama Shrine was rebuilt in its present place, the image was returned to the shrine building which became Nyunai-Kannon-do Hall again.

Address: Komata-116-4 Nyunai, Aomori, 030-0154

Phone: 017-739-3280

Kofuku-ji Temple

Address: Odake-18, Hongo, Minamikatamachi, Tome, Miyagi 987-0423

Phone: 0220-58-3572

Koganeyama Shrine

Address: Komata Nyunai, Aomori, 030-0154