Virtual Kameda Domain 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #29 Anraku-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Goddess Ukemochi was enshrined in Kannonyama Iwakiuchimichikawa, Yurihonjo, Akita 018-1301.

     There are 48 Ukemochi Shrines in Japan.  Ukemochi is a goddess of food and one of the oldest deities of the Shinto religion.  Inari is more popular although the development of Inari shrines began in the 9th century.  There are 2970 Inari Shrines with Inari as their main deity.  There are over 32,000 branches of Inari in the shrines with the other main deities.  Inari is basically the god of rice.  Japanese industrial structure changed and rice cultivation became its primary industry.  Ukemochi was later confused with Inari.  Ukemochi Shrine in Uchimichikawa Village was probably brought either directly from the central part of Japan or indirectly from somewhere in Mutsu or Ideha Province presumably before the prosperity of Inari Shrine in the 9th century.  Later, an Avalokitesvara image was enshrined as Ukemochi's original Buddhist deity, and Anraku-ji Temple was founded to take care of the image.

     Before the end of the 18th century, Ukemochi Shrine was merged to Shinmei-sha Shrine, which was the family shrine of the Michikawa or Donokawa Family.

     The Donokawa Family in Tsuruga was the most well known along the Sea of Japan. 

     The Tsuruga Port along the Sea of Japan was the nearest port to Lake Biwa, while the Shiotsu Port was at the northernmost tip of Lake Biwa and, accordingly, the nearest port to the Sea of Japan.  The Fukasaka Pass between the two ports was just at an altitude of 370 meters when Lake Biwa is 86 meters above sea level.

     Taira Shigemori (1137-1179) planned to construct a canal between the two ports and started to dig down through the Fukasaka Pass.  They faced a big rock, and tried to crack it, only to find stonemasons suddenly had sharp stomach aches.  Shigemori made the Fuakasaka-Jizo statue with the rock, and gave the plan up.

     At the end of the Warring States Period, Otani Yoshitsugu (1558-1600), the lord of Tsuruga Castle under the Toyotomi Regime, also had an idea to build a canal between the two ports.

     Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Kawamura Zuiken (1617-1699), a political entrepreneur and businessman, had another plan to build a canal.

     In 1816, the Obama Domain under the Tokugawa Shogunate constructed a 2.7-meter-wide canal for 6 kilometers from Tsuruga Port to Hikita.

     In 1890, Kyoto Prefecture under the Meiji Restoration Government constructed a tunnel canal between Lake Biwa and Kyoto.  Then came the railroad days, and we have never seen a canal between the Sea of Japan and Lake Biwa completed.  But the repeated ideas of digging a canal through the Fukasaka Pass suggests how profitable the transportation between the two waters was.

     Sho-no-kawa River runs between the Tsuruga Port and the Fukasaka Pass.  The Donokawa Family was the head of the river boat trade guilt along Sho-no-kawa River in the medieval days.

     Under the rule of Hachiya Yoritaka (1534-1589) after 1583, the Donokawa Family was confirmed of conventional prerogatives such as taxes and duties.  After 1592, Otani Yoshitsugu (1565-1600) ratified the previleges. 

     In July, 1600, Nanbu Moronao (1576-1632) privileged the family in the ports of his domain in Mutsu Province.  In July, 1608, Okubo Nagayasu (1545-1613), who actually ruled Sado Island as a local administrator of the Tokugawa Shogunate, privileged the family in the island.  The family administered the warehouses of the Kubota Domain in Dewa Province, Daishoji Domain in Kaga Province, Nagaoka Domain in Echigo Province, and the Shinjo Domain in Dewa Province.

     It isn’t documented if the Michikawa or Dogawa Family in Michikawa Village was their relatives.  The question is whether the Michikawa or Dogawa Family advanced from Tsuruga to Michikawa or from Michikawa to Tsuruga.  It isn’t rare that a branch family prospered more than its head family. 

     Anyway, the Michikawa or Donokawa Family along the Sea of Japan swallowed the middle reaches of Michikawa River.

     Anraku-ji Temple might have been abolished after the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868. 

Shinmei-sha Shrine

Address: Iwakiuchimichikawa-27, Yurihonjo, Akita 018-1301