Virtual Kameda Domain 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #22 Fumon-in Temple

 

     Omono River runs west through Dewa Mountains from Yokote Basin to the Sea of Japan.

     The Yokote Basin is mostly flat with an area of 693.59 square kilometers, consisting of several alluvial fans created by the Omono River and its tributaries.  The Omono River, which flows from the southeastern part of Akita Prefecture to the northwest, winds its way through the mountains between the basin and the Sea of Japan, and flows down to the sea.

     From around the end of the Tertiary period (from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago), compressive forces from the east and west, caused by the westward movement of the Pacific plate, began to be applied to the area that is now the Tohoku Region.  As a result, folds and reverse faults occurred alternately, and lowlands and highlands appeared alternately from the east to the west like wrinkles stretching from north to south.  From Akita Prefecture to Iwate Prefecture, the topography has been divided into lowlands (Akita Plains), mountains (Dewa Mountains), lowlands (Yokote Basin), mountains (Ou Mountains), lowlands (Kitakami Basin), and mountains (Kitakami Mountains).

     During the Quaternary period, from 2.58 million years ago to the present, mountains were further uplifted by compressive forces, and lowlands became even lower, where rivers carried large amounts of sediment, resulting in the development of basins covered with thick sediments.  Several alluvial fans have been formed along the Ou Mountains in the Yokote Basin.  Near the ground surface in the central part of the Yokote Basin, which belonged to Shimoyoshida and Tamura Districts, there are peat layers that indicate that these areas used to be wetlands, and the newest peat layer dates back to approximately 5,000 years ago.

     Approximately 10,000 years ago, the ice age ended, and rising temperatures led to the Jomon Transgression.  When the Jomon transgression was at its peak, the sea level was about 3 to 5 meters higher than it is today.  The amount of water in the rivers is also thought to have been larger.  In the Yokote Basin, where the slope is gentle, and the floodplain is wide, the Omono River changed its flow path several times.  Eventually its tributary rivers carried sediment from the Ou Mountains side (the east side). The development of alluvial fans gradually moved the flow path westward.

     As the amount of water which ran through Omono River decreased, narrow flatlands between Dewa Mountains and Omono River were developed, and people living there increased.  Some of them founded Aranami Shrine in the area where Aranami Village was organized.  For unknown reason, Aranami Shrine and its opposite bank belonged to the Kameda Domain, and the other part of Omono River belonged to the Kubota Domain.  For just about 3 kilometers, the Kameda Domain imposed taxes on the goods of the Kubota Domain.  The taxation dates back to the Warring States Period at the latest.  In those days, the Kameda Domain area was ruled by the Akotsu Family, who had good relations with the Ando Pirates.  The Family could have introduced the piracy-like method to increase their income.  One of the pirating techniques is to "ask" boats and ships to "offer" something to a historic Shinto shrine.  Omono River winds almost 360 degrees in Arawa Village.  It must have been a difficult part for the water transportation.  Aranami literally used to mean Rough Waves. Navigating boats and ships through such a difficult part was another method for pirates.  The disputes over the taxes continued till Japan was unified by the Meiji Restoration Government.  The Chinese characters for Aranami were changed to those for New Waves after the Meiji Restoration.

     Anyway, Fumon-in Temple is supposed to have been founded to carry out the danka system in the Kameda Domain.

Address: Shinmachi-280 Yuwaarawa, Akita, 010-1341

Phone: 018-887-2004

Arawa Shrine

Address: Toyoguchi−16−16, Yuwaarawa, Akita 010-1342

Phone: 018-887-2224