Virtual Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Nincho-ji Temple

 

     Kabusan-ji Temple was founded by Priest Sancho in Shimashimo County, Settsu Province, in 851.  Emperor Seiwa (850-881), who reigned from 858 to 876, changed its name Nincho-ji in 860.  Did he mind the temples' names?  No, but Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-872) did.  He could have wanted to show his authority over Buddhist temples.  He was Seiwa's maternal grandfather, and had the executive power in the Imperial Court.  Yoshifusa started the Fujiwara Regency Regime.

     6 years after the renaming of the temple, in 866, the Otenmon Conspiracy broke out, which strengthened Yoshifusa’s power base.

     Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-872) and his younger brother, Yoshimi (813-867), worked at central government side by side from 857, when Yoshifusa was promoted to be the Premier, and Yoshimi to the second Vice-Premier, until the Otenmon Conspiracy.

     It is very questionable and mysterious who conspired with whom against who before and during the incidents.  However, according to Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku the incident started in this way:

     On March the 10th, Oten-mon Gate went up in flames.  On the 22nd, great purification prayers were held in front of Kaisho-mon Gate, and the Great Heart Sutra was recited in Sufuku-ji Temple.  On July the 6th, an imperial delegate was sent to Ise Shrine, and oblations were offered to shrines in Nankai-do Region.

     On August the 3rd, 866, out of the blue, Oyake Taketori, who was just a substitute for the-rank-and-file officer in Bicchu Province, notified that Tomo Yoshio, the third Vice-Premier, and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.  On the 29th, a daughter of Oyake Taketori was murdered, and Ikue Tsuneyama, Tomo Yoshio’s attendant, was tortured as a suspect.  On the 30th, Tomo Kiyonawa was tortured as an instigator.  On September the 22nd, Tomo Yoshio, Tomo Nakatsune, Ki Toyoshiro, Tomo Akizane, and Tomo Kiyotsuna were convicted of arson, and sentenced to banishment.  Ki Natsui, Tomo Kawao, Tomo Natsukage, Tomo Huyumitsu, Ki Harumichi, Tomo Takayoshi, Ki Takeki, and Tomo Harunori were convicted of implication, and also sentenced to exile.  On October the 25th, Ikue Tsuneyama and Urabe Tanushi confessed to having assaulted Oyake Taketori and having killed his daughter.

     Riho Oki (Prince Shigeakira’s Diary) and Okagami Uragaki (The Collection of Notes on Okagami), however, tell us another story.  It transpired like this:

     Fujiwara Yoshimi, the Premier’s younger brother, consulted with Tomo Yoshio to oust Minamoto Makoto.  They told Fujiwara Mototsune, Fujiwara Yoshifusa’s adopted son, to come, and instructed that it was Minamoto Makoto who set Oten-mon Gate on fire.  Mototsune was surprised to hear that, and asked them if Yoshifusa knew the story, but Yoshimi answered no.  Mototsune reported the story to Yoshifusa in haste.

     Yoshifusa responded that the first Vice Premier had rendered meritorious service to the Emperor, and that it was unreasonable to be accused of the crime when it was uncertain whether the story was true, and then reported to Emperor Seiwa, “It was I who should be punished first if the first Vice Prime Minister were to be punished.”  As the Emperor did not know the story, he was greatly surprised.

     Eventually on August the 3rd, 866, Oyake Taketori noticed that Tomo Yoshio and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.

     It’s not clear who conspired with whom against whom in the Otenmon Conspiracy.  In Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki’s story, pecking order No.3 and No.4 tried to oust No.2, maybe to get promoted, but failed.  Maybe, it was pecking No.2 who tried to…..  We have a few more clues:

     Fujiwara Yoshifusa, pecking order No.1, had been seriously ill from the end of the year 864 to September 865.  Fujiwara Mototsune, Yoshifusa’s adopted son, was yet to be in his thirties.  Who would be Fujiwara Clan’s leader if Yoshifusa were to die?

     At the end of the year 864, there was also a whistle-blowing that Minamoto Makoto was planning to revolt with his younger brothers, Toru and Tsutomu.  Tomo Yoshio attacked the Minamoto Clan counting on the letter.  Who on earth composed the letter?

     At the time of the Otenmon Conspiracy, Oyake Taketori was working for Bicchu Province.  He had been a low-ranked officer in Wu Hyoe Fu, a kind of the office of the guards.  Minamoto Tsutomu supervised the office of the guards before he was later promoted to be the Vice-Governor in Bicchu Province in January, 866.  What a coincidence!

     In the spring of the year 866, Tomo Yoshio surrounded Minamoto Makoto’s mansion house, claiming that he was just sending messengers.

     On August the 3rd, 866, as you already know, Oyake Taketori notified Tomo Yoshio and his son, Nakatsune, that they had set fire to Oten-mon Gate.  On the 29th, Oyake Taketori’s daughter was murdered by Ikue Tsuneyama.

     Even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who, there is an important lesson to be learned through those incidents; blood will have blood.

     Whether you believe in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, which is usually regarded to be more reliable than other documents, or in Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki, or even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who in the incidents, we can clearly see the outcomes.

     Who was the biggest winner after all the conspiratorial incidents?  Fujiwara Mototsune was.  He successfully became the Premier after Yoshifusa’s death, going over Yoshimi’s head, who had actually died before Yoshifusa’s death, though.  Yoshifusa and Mototsune opened a Fujiwara regency regime.

     Who was the biggest loser then?  The Tomo Clan were.  They were almost exterminated.  Who was the second biggest loser?  The Ki Clan were.  They were diminished.  All the other clans were minor losers, and some of them went to remote provinces including the Eastern Provinces for a new start.

Nincho-ji Temple has Kannon-do Hall, which enshrines the statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses.  The statue is the #23 deity of the Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: 258 Ninchoji, Ibaraki, Osaka 568-0085

Phone: 072-649-3261