Virtual North Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #23 Ichijo-in Temple

 

     It is unknown when Ichijo-in Temple was founded as a branch of Jakuo-ji Temple.  Ichijo-in Temple's jigo is Jakuo-ji.  I will talk about Jakuo-ji Temple more when I virtually visit the North Settsu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Jakuo-ji Shaka-in Temple.  As the temple's oldest Buddhist image, the standing statue of Uho Doji, who is a god of Shinbutsu-shugo, or the syncretism of Japanese gods and Buddhas, is supposed to have been made in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), the temple could have been founded in those days.

     Many temples in Japan have jigo (namely temple name), and the others have ingo (namely cloister name).  Some of them even have sango (namely mountain name).  The most complicated name of a temple consists of the three names.  When a temple has 3 names, sango (mountain name) comes first, then either ingo (cloister name) or jigo (temple name) comes second (not necessarily ingo comes second, as is sometimes suggested), and then comes the rest.

     Sango comes from China.  Buddhism first reached China during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) as a foreign mysterious religion.  It was accepted by intellectuals during the Eastern Han Dynasty, connecting Wuwei concept (literally meaning inexertion, inaction, or effortless action) in Taoism with the concept of Sunyata (translated most often as emptiness, vacuity, and sometimes voidness) in Buddhism.  After the Six Dynasties (220-589), Buddhism flourished so much that they had many temples with the same name, as you may notice even in Japan today.  They came to put a place name before the name of a temple.  As Buddhist temples flourished, they accumulated wealth.  There were about 4,600 monasteries, 40,000 hermitages, 260,500 monks and nuns.  In 840’s, Emperor Wuzong (814-846) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) initiated the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism to confiscate their properties.  In 846, the Emperor Wuzong died, and the persecution was over.  However, Buddhism never completely recovered except some Chan temples in mountains which stood aloof from the worldly businesses.  Under the Kamakura Shogunate, Japan imported Chan Buddhism with the custom to put a place name (= a mountain name) before a temple name.  The custom spread to other Buddhism sects and schools.

     Ingo literally means a cloister name.  The suffix “-in” was an honorific title.  After Emperor Saga (786-842) abdicated in 823, he was called Saga-in with respect.  That was the first example of using the suffix “-in” for a retired emperor.  Those days, a retired emperor meant a cloistered emperor.

     When Fujiwara Senshi (962-1002), the mother of Emperor Ichijo (980-1011), retired as an empress dowager, she was given an honorific title “-in” for the first time as a woman.  And then some royal family members were given the honorific title “-in”.  And then the temples where those with “-in” titles as the head priests came to be also called with the suffix “-in”.  That was the start of ingo (cloister names) for temples.

     As the ancient aristocracy collapsed, the naming custom spread to other ruling classes, such as samurais, and so did ingo for temples.  Many temples with ingo in the middle of the three, use it to show the high status of them.

     Meanwhile, the suffix “-in” also meant retirement, sub-temples for retired priests in the precincts of large temples came to be named with it.  And then the naming custom spread to other sub-temples and even branch temples.  Those temples put their ingo usually at the tail of the three.

     At first, Japan had only 46 temples.  In the Kamakura Period, there were over 13,000 temples.  In the Edo Period, the number exceeded 0.4 million.  In those days, -an, -sai, and -bo were also used as jigo.  An means a thatched-roofed hut.  Sai means a study.  Bo means a house for a monk.  After the Meiji Restoration, the number of temples decreased to about 70 thousand.

     Ichijo-in Temple's full name is Tara-san Jakuo-ji Ichijo-in.  Tradition has it that it was burned down by Oda Nobunaga  (1534-1582) in 1573.  In 1573, however, Nobunaga's army was still fighting in Kawachi Province.  In the year, however, Araki Murashige (1535-1586), who had been subject to Ikeda Tomomasa (?-1604), who had been against Nobunaga, overpowered Tamomasa by taking Nobunaga's side.  The temple could have been involved in battles between Murashige and Tomomasa.

     Ichijo-in Temple was revived by Priest Shuei in 1638.

     Chiyomaru, the surviving son of Ishida Mitsunari (1560-1600), was wrapped in Mitsunari's military flag, and was brought to this village by his remaining retainers and wet nurse.  In 1801, Yamatoya Hikobei, Chiyomaru's descendant, donated the flag to his family temple, Ichijo-in Temple.

Address: 2 Chome-7-26 Hachizuka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0024

Phone: 072-761-8918