Virtual Sakai 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Insetsu-ji Temple

 

     Insetsu-ji Temple was located in today’s 3 Chome Shorinjichohigashi, Sakai Ward, Sakai, Osaka 590-0963.  The temple was founded during the Muromachi Period (1336-1573) in modern days' Teramachi, Higashi 3-cho, Shorinji-cho.  In 1873, it was merged with Shoho-ji Temple, and its former site later became the site of the Shorinji Elementary School.

     The Sakai Dai-ezu, namely the Sakai Grand Map, published in 1620, shows the temple located in Taruya-cho 2-chome, facing west, bordered by Shorinj-i Temple to the south, with a boundary measuring 1 kilometer east to west and half a kilometer north to south, with 32 tenement houses on the north side and 7 on the east side.  However, the original site of this temple is not in the area mentioned above, but west of Sumiyoshi Shrine Shukuin-tongu.

     Tongu is a kind of branch.  According to the document issued by Ashikaga Yoshimochi (1386-1428) dated April 23, 1401, the site was donated by Tsumori Kuninatsu (1288-1352), the Shinto priest of Sumiyoshi Shrine in Settsu Province.  Although the Sakai Tourism and Convention Bureau argues that Sumiyoshi Shrine Shukuin-tongu started in 1816, a kind of a branch dates back to the 14th century at the latest.  The precincts spread 3.8 kilometers north to south and reached the seashore in the west.

     The temple could have been moved to where Shorinji Elementary School is presumably when Sakai Town was rezoned after its destruction in 1615 caused by the Siege of Osaka.

     Insetsu-ji Temple was merged to Shoho-ji Temple in 1873, 5 years after the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868.

Shoho-ji Temple

Address: 4 Chome-2-18 Nakanochohigashi, Sakai Ward, Sakai, Osaka 590-0956

phone: 072-221-7673

Shorinji Elementary School

Address: 4 Chome-1-1 Shorinjichohigashi, Sakai Ward, Sakai, Osaka 590-0963

Phone: 072-232-1126

Sumiyoshi Shrine Shukuintongu

Address: 2 Chome-1-6 Shukuinchohigashi, Sakai Ward, Sakai, Osaka 590-0955

Phone: 072-232-1029