Virtual Nada 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #26 Jigen-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Sen'en-ji Temple was founded in the north of Koya-ike Pond.  It belonged to Shingon School.  As it has the wooden sitting Sakyamuni statue which was made in 1195, during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), the temple might be as old as the statue or a little bit younger.  In the Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392), Akamatsu Norimura (1277-1350) asked the temple to pray for him.  As he was based in Harima Province, he might have found some advantage in having connections with a Buddhist temple in Settsu Province, which lay between Harima Province and Kyoto, the then capital of Japan.

     Priest Keisho came from Taiko-ji Temple, transferred Sen'en-ji Temple into Caodong Chan Buddhism, and renamed it Sen'en-san Jigen-ji. 

     In those days, the Itami Family ruled the surrounding area, based in Arioka Castle.  The family was first documented in 1309, during the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).  In the year, Itami Chikamori worked for the Deputy Guardian Samurai of Settsu Province.  In 1363, during the Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392), Itami Saemonnojo was documented.  On June 4th, 1531, Itami Kunisuke was killed in battle, when Hosokawa Takakuni  (1484-1531), the 31st Deputy of Muromachi Shogunate and the 15th head of Kyocho-Hosokawa Family, was destroyed by Hosokawa Harumoto (1514-1563) and Miyoshi Motonaga(1501-1532).  

     Takakuni replaced Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466-1523), the 10th Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, with the son of Ashikaga Yoshizumi (1480-1511), the 8th Shogun, Yoshiharu (1511-1550), the 11th Shogun, in 1521.  Takakuni was in his heyday.  Lights, however, are usually followed by shadows.  In July, 1526, Hosokawa Tadakata (?-1531), Takakuni’s cousin, fabricated the secret communication between Takakuni’s vassal, Kozai Motomori (?-1526), and Hosokawa Harumoto (1514-1563).  It wasn’t recorded what intention Tadakata had.  Motomori was said to be uncultured and uneducated.  Anyway, Takakuni just flew into a fury and had Motomori assassinated.  Motomori’s brothers, Hatano Motokiyo (?-1530) and Yanagimoto Kataharu (?-1530), got furious in turn.  They rebelled against Takakuni in their homeland, Tamba Province.  Motokiyo shut himself up in Yakami Castle and Kataharu in Kannosan Castle.  Takakuni was astonished and ordered Tadakata to siege Kannosan Castle.  He also dispatched Kawarabayashi Shurinosuke and Ikeda Danjo to Yakami Castle on October 23rd.  There were some skirmishes for several days.  On November 5th, Naito Kunisada (?-1553), the lord of Yagi Castle,who was sympathetic toward the brothers, withdrew from the encirclement of Kannosan Castle.  On November 30th, Akai Goro, the lord of Kuroi Castle, attacked the besiegement of Kannosan Castle and broke it.  Takakuni’s army raised the siege of the castles.  On their way back, Shurinosuke and Danjo had infighting.  Tadataka just ran away.  Takakuni’s rule exposed its vulnerability in half a year.

     The Miyoshi Family didn’t miss the good opportunity.  Miyoshi Masanaga (1508-1549) landed at Sakai and occupied Hori Fortress, which is supposed to have been located where Juso Park is, on an island in the Yodo River as early as on December 13th, as if they had had a secret communication with Motokiyo and Kataharu.

     After all the ups downs of himself and the decline of the Muromachi Shogunate, Takakuni went into exile in Iga, Ise, Echizen, Izumo, and Bizen Provinces.  Takakuni was supported by Uragami Muramune (1498-1531), who was based in Mitsuishi Castle in Bizen Province.  Takakuni and Muramune occupied Harima Province on July 27th, 1530, and seized Arioka Castle by the end of February, 1531.  They occupied Kyoto on March 7th.  They advanced toward Sakai, Izumi Province, where Ashikaga Yoshitsuna (1511-1573), who was called a Sakai Shogun, lived and practiced a little bit of shogunate power.  A seesaw battle went on.  Akamatsu Harumasa (1495-1565), who was based in Okishio Castle, arrived at Kanno-ji Temple on June 2nd.  Harumasa was greeted by Takakuni and Muramune on the night.  On the 4th, Harumasa went over to the Sakai Shogunate side.  Takakuni and Muramune were attaacked by Harumasa from north and by the Sakai Shogunate army from south.

     Itami Kunisuke was killed in the battle.  Did he show loyalty to Takakuni?  I don't think so.  He was caught up in so-called dogfights.  Hosokawa Ryoke Ki, the Records of Two Hosokawa Families, which was written by Ikushima Sochiku, and which covers history from 1504 to 1570, "The river is so full of dead people that it looks like a mound.  People say that something like this never happens; not in the past, not now, and not in the future."  Kunisuke didn't want to miss a chance, became subject to Takakuni, was given Kuni, Takakuni's last half, to the first half of his name, and just thought he jumped on the bandwagon till his last moment.

     With his main vassals killed, Takakuni left the battlefield ln the confusion of the defeat.  He fled to Amagasaki.

     He tried to retreat to Daimotsu Castle, but the Akamatsu forces had already taken hold of it.  He fled to an indigo dyeing shop called Kyoya in Amagasaki and hid inside an indigo pot, laying the earthenware pot upside down.  He was captured by Miyoshi Kazuhide (?-1532) on June 5th.

     Searching for Takakuni in Amagasaki, Kazuhide prepared a lot of melons and told children playing nearby, "If you tell me where Takakuni is hiding, I'll give you all of these melons."  The children, eager to get the melons, found Takakuni's hiding place.

     At around 4 a.m. on the 8th of the same month, Takakuni committed suicide at Kotoku-ji Temple in Amagasaki at the age of 48.  His death tanka poem, which he sent to Kitabatake Harutomo (1503-1563), reads:

The sea and mountains I have depicted in paintings

And that I have carved into stones

I will watch them even after my death with my eyes open.

     Meanwhile, the defeated samurai of the Urakami Army were reportedly pursued by the Akamatsu Army as they were fleeing back to Harima Province through Namaseguchi (Namazecho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 669-1102), and were almost completely wiped out.

     For your information, Sochiku finished writing the first half of Hosokawa Ryoke Ki in April, 1550, at the age of 69.  The second half was completed in March, 1573, when he should have been 92 years old.  The latter half could have been written by someone around him.  Hosokawa Masamoto (1466-1507), who was the 24th, 26th, 27th, and 28th Deputy of Muromachi Shogunate, and who was the 12th head of Kyocho-Hosokawa Family, realized the golden age of the Hosokawa Clan at large.  He had the executive power of the shogunate.  However, he devoted himself to Shugendo, the mountain asceticism in Japan, and kept women away from him.  His adopted sons eventually conflicted with each other.  As the Kyocho-Hosokawa Family split into two, Sochiku named his history book the Records of Two Hosokawa Families.

     Anyway, Kunisuke’s cousin, Chikaoki (?-1574), succeeded to the headship of the family, and killed himself when he surrendered Arioka Castle to Araki Murashige (1535-1586), a vassal of Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), on November 15th, 1574.  His son, Tadachika (1552-1600), fought for Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and, after Hideyoshi's death, fought for Kuroda Nagamasa (1568-1623).  He was killed in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.  Tadachika's daughter, Okiku, was one of the 34 wives of Toyotomi Hidetsugu (1568-1595), the nephew of Hideyoshi.  The wives were all killed with their children by Hideyoshi, the wives’ uncle-in-law, and the children’s granduncle, on August 2nd, 1595.

     Chikaoki’s cousin, or Kunisuke's son, Masakatsu (1522-1596), survived.  After his father’s death, Masakatsu drifted around under the custody of his maternal grandfather, Mano Tokiaki.  Presumably, Kunisuke and Chikaoki might not get along well with each other.  Through Ise and Kozuke Provinces, they drifted to Suruga Province in 1558.  There, he was hired by Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560) to do odd jobs around him.  Somehow or other, he stood out as a leader of sea forces.

     After the Imagawa Clan was destroyed by Takeda Harunobu (1521-1573), Masakatsu transferred to Harunobu and helped to organize the Tekeda Sea Forces in 1571.  After the Tekeda Clan was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) in 1582, he transferred to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), and was appointed to a magistrate of sea forces at Shimizu Port, Suruga Province.  He who learns an art has a purchase made.

     Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Masakatsu’s descendants not only survived but also prospered.  They made the lords of the Omura Domain in Kyushu.

     For your information, Itami Nagachika belonged to the same generation as Chikaoki.  He worked for the Later Hojo Clan, and revived Zenrin-ji Temple.  After Nagachika’s death, Masatomi was still working for the Later Hojo Clan when it was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) in 1590.  His son was taken care of by his maternal uncle.  They became Buddhist monks; Chugo and Chuson.  Chugo made the head priest of Senso-ji Temple, whose position Chuson succeeded.  After the two, nothing is known about other descendants of Nagachika's line.  Not all the Itami Family members knew how to make it in the world, and not all maternal relatives were helpful.

     The name of the 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, Nada, reminds many Japanese people of Japanese sake breweries in the cities of Kobe and Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.  The pilgrimage could have had something to do with the sake brewing industry.  Meanwhile, the place name Nada refers to the area between Muko River in the east and Ikuta River in the west.  Why are the (at least) 4 temples in the east of Muko River included in the pilgrimage?

It might have something to do with the history of Nada-Gogo sake breweries.

     Sometime between 1624 and 1645, Zakoya Bun'emon moved from Itami to Nishinomiya to start a brewery there.  As the Nishinomiya area was closer to the sea, it had the advantage in sending sake to Edo by sea.  Accordingly, some other sake breweries followed him.  In the other part of the Nada area, many of the present-day sake breweries were established from 1655 to 1736.  That was the rise of Nada-Gogo sake breweries.  Nada-Gogo, or the Five Villages in Nada, refers to Nishi, Mikage, and Uozaki in Kobe City, and Nishinomiya and Imazu in Nishinomiya City.

     Believe it or not, Itami City has the oldest sake brewery wooden buildings in existence.  Some even believe the city is the birthplace of refined sake.

     What happened to the other 29 member temples of Nada 33 Kannon Pilgrimage?  Presumably some of them were destroied and the others lost their histories in the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995.

     If you don't believe my story, why don't you taste sake from all the breweries in Nada and Itami hopefully in a day?  At least (At worst?), you will never mind whether my story is true or not by the time you have compared hundreds of items from the 27 or more Japanese sake breweries.

Address: 6 Chome-19-59 Konoike, Itami, Hyogo 664-0006

Phone: 072-779-8651

Yakami Castle Ruins

Address: Takagiyama, Yakamiuchi, Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo 669-2432

Phone: 079-552-5792

Handa-Kannonsan Castle Ruins

Address: Wadayamacho Handa, Asago, Hyogo 669-5241

Yagi Castle Ruins

Address: Yagicho Yagi, Nantan, Kyoto 629-0141

Kuroi Castle Ruins

Address: 4125 669 Kasugacho Tada, Tamba, Hyogo 669-4125

Juso Park

Address: 1 Chome-1 Jusomotoimazato, Yodogawa Ward, Osaka, 532-0028

Mitsuishi Castle Ruins

Address: Mitsuishi, Bizen, Okayama 705-0132

Okishio Castle Ruins

Address: Yumesakicho Miyaoki, Himeji, Hyogo 671-2121

Kanno-ji Temple

Address: 25-1 Kabutoyamacho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 662-0001

Phone: 0798-72-1172

Daimotsu Castle Site

Address: 2-chome-7-6 Daimotsucho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0823

Kyoya

Address: 2-chome-1-2 Minamitsukaguchicho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 661-0012

Phone: 06-6429-1318

Kotoku-ji Temple

Address: 8 Teramachi, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660-0867

Phone: 06-6411-2424

Taiko-ji Temple

Address: 2 Chome-5-16 Ayaha, Ikeda, Osaka 563-0051

Phone: 072-751-3433

Arioka Castle Ruins

Address: 1 Chome-12 Itami, Hyogo 664-0846

Phone: 072-784-8090

   

Zenrin-ji Temple

Address: 6 Chome-40-32 Kamariyahigashi, Kanesawa Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0042

Phone: 045-781-9814