Virtual Kubota Castle Town 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Honnen-ji Temple

 

     Honnen-ji Temple was founded by Priest Ryomu in 1616 where the ridge of Mount Taihei meets the Akita Plain.

     Mount Taihei used to be called Oidara.  Some suggest the name had something to do with Daidarabocchi.  Mount Oidara was recognized as a holy place in 673, when the surrounding area was populated with northern foreigners.  It was 35 years before Ideha Fortress was built in the estuary of Mogami River.  Mount Oidara was amalgamated into Shinto and Miyoshi Shrine was built in 801, 3 years before Akita County was established.

     Hiroomote Village was first documented in 1601.  Te Lagoon (Tegata, Akita, 010-0851), Naga Pond(Naganuma Hiroomote, Akita, 010-0041), and Aka Pond (Akanuma Hiroomote, Akita, 010-0041) formed a marshland in the village.  Rice fields were reclaimed there from 1644, and the ponds dissappeared in the 1650's.  Akanuma Village was independent in 1644.

     So, when Honnen-ji Temple was founded, Akanuma Village wasn't there.  As the head shrine of Taiheizan-Miyoshi Shrine is about 300 meters east-north-east in Akanuma, Ryomu might have been interested in the holiness.  As the temple's sango is Shugyo-zan, namely Training Mountain, Ryomu could have trained himself and his followers in the holy place even before the development of Akanuma Village.

Address: Akanuma-98 Hiroomote, Akita, 010-0041

Phone: 018-832-3293

Taiheizan-Miyoshi Shrine Okumiya

Address: Taniyama-21 Taiheiyama, Akita 010-0824

Taiheizan-Miyoshi Shrine (the head shrine)

Address: Akanuma-3-2 Hiroomote, Akita, 010-0041