Virtual Old Tsugaru 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #27 Hosogoe Shrine

 

     There is a 2-meters-tall natural rock at the foot of a hill along the south-western coast of the Mutsu Bay.  The rock used to be holy among northern foreigners, and was considered to look like Avalokitesvara in 978, when Tokutan Fortress was the northernmost military foothold of the Imperial Army.  Sakanoue Tamuramaro (758-811) had invaded the province about 2 centuries before and a few Japanese people could have arrived at the bay.  Or...

     Balhae’s 11th mission to Japan was a very weird one.  It is not clear if it was really an official mission.  The letter which was brought to Japan by them was evaluated by the inspector dispatched by the central government to be too “rude” to accept.  And the leader, Go Yang-pil, was regarded as an “embezzling” ambassador.

     Shoku Nihongi, the second of imperially commissioned Japanese history texts, wrote on September 14th, 779 (October 31 in 779 by Gregorian Calendar):  “359 people of Balhae and Tiei came to Japan, yearning for the virtuous influence.  They are staying in Ideha Province.  According to precedents, the provincial government should supply them.  However, the envoys are too low-ranking to be provided presents.  After dispatching a messenger and holding a party for them, they should be deported.  If their ships have been damaged, they should be fixed.  The delay of the deportation will not be allowed.”

     Not everything went smoothly.  Shoku Nihongi wrote on November 9th (December 25 by Gregorian Calendar):  “The inspector of the Balhae people should not allow them to come to Kyoto since the letter submitted by Go Yang-pil, an embezzling ambassador, was too rude.  Since they haven’t come via Dazai-fu and have craftily asked for convenience, they should be given an official warning not to repeat that again.”

      Without the Internet, the correspondence between Ideha Province and Kyoto must have taken tens of days, but Shoku Nihongi continued to write on the next day:  “The inspector has brought a message:  Tiei officers argued Seol-chabg into taking a lower seat.  They seem to be insulting him.

     "The Prime Minister decided:  Go Seo-chang, a Balhae translator, has far crossed blue waves and has frequently come to Japan.  What he says and thinks is loyal and diligent, and he has been given the 12th ranking.  He is taking a lower seat to the Tiei officers.  Not out of favoritism, but the difference of rankings should be clarified and order should be maintained.”

     The country Balhae consisted of the remains of Goguryeo and Mohe tribes.  Although Balhae imported a national system from the Tang Dynasty, there might have been tribal societies with powerful families ruling them, and the Tiei people are presumed to be one of 8 Mohe tribes.  It is not clear whether Go Yang-pil belonged to Balhae people or Tiei people, but it's no wonder local powerful families were more powerful than central officials such as a translator.

     What were Tiei people like?  We have no idea, but back in 746, more than a generation before the 11th mission’s arrival in Japan, over 1,100 Balhae and Tiei people arrived at Ideha Province, "yearning for the virtuous influence of Japan."  After getting some clothes and food, they were deported.

     Looking at their haughty and arrogant behavior against a weak intelligentsia, Tiei people didn’t seem to be seeking ethical influence.  Then, what were they yearning for?

     By 746, Balhae had sent 2 missions to Japan.  Each time they got plenty of fabric products in exchange for hides.  According to the witnesses of the Silla people, Mohe people were wearing fur clothes.  Fabric clothes must have been precious there.  1,100 was a big migration, not to mention it was a great migration, which failed because of the strong anti-immigration policy of the Japanese central and provincial governments.

     Before 779, however, Japan sent 2 naturalized Japanese officers whose ancestors had been refugees after the collapse of Goguryeo to Balhae.  That might have raised Tiei people’s expectations for their acceptance to Japan.  More aggressively, they might have expected to build a colony city somewhere in Ideha Province or somewhere further north, where the governance of the central government was still fragile.

     The migration from the northern coast of the Sea of Japan was not impossible or improbable.  Oga City in Akita Prefecture has Akagami Shrine, which has passed down a migration-related legend:

     Long, Long ago, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty brought 5 ogres to the village.  To drive them out, villagers made a promise with the ogres.  If ogres were to build one thousand stone steps to Akagami Shrine within a night, the villagers would marry their daughters to the ogres.  If not, the ogres should leave the village.  When the ogres finished building 999 stone steps, a villager copied crows of a rooster.  The ogres kept their promise and left the village.

     If it had really happened when Wu was ruling China, it should have happened in the first century B.C., 4 centuries before the first kingdom of Japan was born.  It is quite improbable that the legend has been handed down since such old days.  At the beginning of the 8th century, Ideha Fortress was built in today’s Yamagata Prefecture.  In 733, it was moved further north to today’s Akita Prefecture to suppress Emishi people living there.  Japanese shrines should have been built after the middle of the 8th century there.  Anyway, I wonder why the villagers didn’t accept the ogres who were competent enough to build 999 stone steps in such a short time, and who had such good manners to keep promises.

     A legend at Iwase village in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, says Balhae people, Jeong Yeong and Seo Beom, sailed from the continent with garlic as food.  Garlic was planted in the village, and since then it has become a special product.  The legend tells us nothing about whether Jeong and Seo inhabited Japan or returned home.

          Did all the 1,100 Balhae and Tiei people in 746 really leave Ideha Province?  Did all of them actually return to their homeland?  Did all the 359 Balhae and Tiei people in 779 really leave Echizen, or Japan?

     It could have been the immigrants from the continent that considered the rock to be like Avalokitesvara in 978.

     Sometime between 1596 and 1615, Mizunomi Gozaemon immigrated from Wakasa Province with his family and developed the area around the Avalokitesvara rock and named the area Urushi-Shinden Village, namely Lacquer-New-Rice-Field Village.  They regarded the rock as their land guardian deity.

     Takeda Motoaki (1552-1582) was based in Nochiseyama Fortress and ruled Wakasa Province.  In 1568, Asakura Yoshikage (1533-1573) invaded Wakasa Province. The Asakura forces captured Kuniyoshi Fortress, Tezutsuyama Fortress, and other fortresses.  When the forces surround Nochiseyama Fortress, Motoaki attempted to commit suicide, but was persuaded to make peace.  He was forced to move to the capital of the Asakura Family, Ichijodani in Echizen Province.

     Presumably, Mizunomi Gozaemon was a vassal of the Takeda Family. 

     After the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, it became Miwa Shrine.  In 1916, the shrine and Miyama Shrine merged, became Hosogoshi Shrine, and was moved to its present place.

Address: Sakaeyama Hosogoe, Aomori, 038-0023

Tokutan Fortress Site

Address: Dai 6 Chiwari Nishitokuta, Yahaba, Shiwa District, Iwate 028-3603

Kuniyoshi Fortress Ruins

Address: JX78+8F, Mihama, Fukui

Tezutsuyama Fortress Ruins

Address: Shimizu, Tsuruga, Fukui 914-0071

Nochiseyama Fortress Ruins

Address: Fushiwara, Obama, Fukui 917-0041

Ichijoudani Castle Ruins

Address: Kidonouchicho, Fukui, 910-2153