Virtual Kubota Castle Town 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #31 Fumon-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Fumon-ji Temple was founded in Yabase Village.

     Yabase Village was developed along the Yabase Road between Kubota Castle Town and Tsuchizaki Port.  Kubota Castle Town was developed after Satake Yoshinobu (1570-1633) was demoted from Hitachi Province in 1602.  The village was first documented in 1647.  When Ushu Highway was set up presumably in the middle of the 17th century, when the highway magistracy was established in the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Yabase Road became part of it.  Ushu means Dewa Province, and the highway connected the domains in the province with the national capital, Edo.

     It is unknown whether Fumon-ji Temple was founded before the foundation of Fudo-in Temple or after.  Anyway, Fumon-ji Temple was located opposite Sugawara Shrine across Yabase Road.

     Fumon-ji Temple was abolished in 1940, when the Religious Organizations Law was enacted in Japan.

     The Meiji Restoration Government controlled Shinto and Buddhism through a series of existing individual laws, but was not necessarily proactive in controlling Christian missionary activities.  The reason for this was the dilemma that subjecting Christianity to any form of control would mean openly accepting Christianity.  Furthermore, there was concern that subjecting Christianity to discipline would put Japan at a disadvantage in treaty revision negotiations.  In the 20th century, the government came to think that it would be possible to impose detailed control through unified laws in exchange for the "carrot" of granting corporate status and establishing corporate asset management, tax exemption, and exemption from military service for religious leaders.

     Anyway, as Fumon-ji Temple wasn’t abolished after the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, it mightn’t have been Sugawara Shrine’s shrine temple.  Why, then, did it disappear without leaving its graveyard?  Had it belonged to Shugen-do or the Japanese mountain asceticism, which hadn’t been allowed to hold funerals under the Tokugawa Shogunate?

     Some say the #31 deity was moved to the Kubota Castle Town 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #30 Fudo-in Temple, and others say it was moved to the Kubota Castle Town 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #32 Zenryo-ji Temple.  A few even say Fumon-ji Temple used to be the Kubota Castle Town 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #33 and Kimyo-ji Temple is just filling in for Fumon-ji Temple.  The memberships in Yabasehoncho are just mysterious.

Address: 2-chome-4-37 Yabasehoncho, Akita, 010-0973

Sugawara Shrine

Address: 4 Chome-4-3 Yabasehoncho, Akita, 010-0973

Phone: 018-823-2090