Virtual North Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Eiko-ji Temple

 

     Eiko-ji Temple was founded in 1453.

     The Shocho Uprising , one of the many armed rebellions in Japan during the Muromachi Period, occurred between August and September of the year 1428.  They demanded a debt moratorium.  The Muromachi shogunate did not release a debt cancellation order, but, because proof of the peasants' debts were destroyed during the looting, a kind of independent debt relief was effectively achieved.  The Kakitsu Uprising occurred in 1441, demanding debt cancellation.  Finally the Muromachi Shogunate accepted their demands and issued a comprehensive debt cancellation order, which included debt from land sold in perpetuity by farmers less than 20 years ago, that is after the Shocho Uprising.  Whether their main forces were peasants or local samurai is an object of discussion, but it is clear that the shogunate's authority was declining.

     Eiko-ji Temple was founded in those days.  Ei means Eternity and Ko means to Rise.  As the temple’s main deity, the Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha standing statue, is supposed to have been made when the Japanese aristocracy was in their heyday, the locals might have purchased or plundered it from someone who belonged to the ancien regime.

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