Virtual Yashima Domain 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Ryugen-ji Temple

 

     In 712, Ideha Province was separated from Koshi Province.  In 780, however, the Ideha Provincial Government Office retreated from today's Akita to today's Sakata.  The Imperial Court sent farmer-soldiers to the surrounding area around the provincial government office to support the frontline.  As Akumi County was documented in Engishiki, a book about laws and customs, whose major part was completed in 927, the county might have been organized in Ideha Province in the 9th century.  In the Wamyo Ruijusho, namely Japanese Names for Things Classified and Annotated,  which was a Japanese dictionary compiled in 938, and which lists Japanese place names from south to north, Yuri County wasn't listed yet.  The county was first documented in the entry of May 3rd, 1213, in Azumakagami, which was a chronology compiled after 1266 under the directive of the Regent of the Kamakura Shogunate.

     As Yuri County was mountainous, many powerful families were based in small valleys: the Yashima Family, the Nikaho Family, the Akozu Family, the Kataho Family, the Uteichi Family, the Koyoshi Family, the Shimomura Family, the Tomai Family, the Ayukawa Family, the Ishizawa Family, the Takizawa Family, the Iwaya Family, the Hanegawa Family, the Serita Family, the Kutsuzawa Family, and the Ne'nei Family.

     The Uteichi Family was based in Utetsu Village (Utetsu, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0024).  The family founded Ryugen-ji Temple in 1623.  When the Ikoma Family moved from Sanuki Province to Yashima, it became their family temple.

Address: Tayanoshita-26 Yashimamachi Jonai, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0411

Phone: 0184-55-2233