Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #8 Gokuraku-ji Temple

 

     Ei-jima or Ei-ga-jima Island was located at the mouth of Akane River.  In 726, Kasa Kanamura composed a poem mentioning the island as Nakisumi-no-funase:

I have heard that in Matsuho Bay on Awaji Island,

which can be seen over Nakisumi-no Funase,

Young female divers collect seaweed in the morning

And parch seaweed to get salt in the evening.

I have no way of going to see these girls.

Without a man's heart but with the broken heart,

I just go back and forth in the same place,

Yearning for the female divers.

I have neither a boat nor a helm.

     Funase was an inlet where boats waited for favorable or weaker winds.

     In 744, Gyoki (668-749) built a breakwater for the port and overhauled it as Uozumi Port.  The port was one of the 5 important ports in Harima and Settsu Provinces: Muro, Matogata, Uozumi, Owada, and Kawajiri Prots, which were located in today's Tatsuno, Himeji, Akashi, Kobe, and Amagasaki Cities.

     In 832, Kiyohara Natsuno (782-837) put his personal money into the reconstruction of Uozumi Port.  Later, the reconstruction was supported by public money.

     In 914, Miyoshi Kiyoyuki (847-919) submitted a petition to restore Uozumi Port.  The restoration was archaeologically supported by the surveys carried out in 1986, 2012, and 2013.

     It is unknown if Ei-jima or Ei-ga-shima was a land-connected island in historic times, but, in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333), it was already a peninsula.

     When Matsudaira Nobuyuki (1631-1686) was the 6th lord of the Akashi Domain, Ei-jima or Ei-ga-shima was renamed Nishi-jima, namely West Island, because the area was located in the west of Akane River.

     In 1733, Urabe Kiyobe built a Kannon-do hall for the temple.  The hall became today’s main hall.

     When Ino Tadataka (1745-1818) carried out his fifth expedition across Western Japan to draw Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu, or Maps of Japan's Coastal Area, he stayed in Gokuraku-ji Temple for a night.  He left Edo on February 25th, 1805, and arrived at Gokuraku-ji Temple on October 11th.

     The Urabe Family is said to be the offspring of the Urabe Clan, who was a Japanese noble family and did Divination for the Royal Family.  The family was not only the head of the village but also ran a sake brewery, and their descendants still manage Eigashima Shuzo CO.,LTD.

     Gokuraku means Pure Land of Perfect Bliss, and Gokuraku-ji Temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:.

Nishi-jima, or West Island, sounds like Western Pure Land.

Speaking of Pure Land, we have Gokuraku-ji Temple here.

The teachings of Buddhism never fail to pass people to Pure Land.

Address: Nishijima-1100 Okubocho, Akashi, Hyogo 674-0065

Phone: 078-946-2149

EIGASHIMA SHUZO CO.,LTD.

Address: Nishijima-919 Okubocho, Akashi, Hyogo 674-0065

Phone: 078-946-1006

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Yakushi-in Temple

 

     According to legend, when Gyoki (668-749) visited the area, he thrust his Buddhist staff into the ground, and holy water gushed forth, from which a statue of Bhaisajyaguru, or Yakushi Nyorai in Japanese, emerged.  Yakushi-in Temple was founded to enshrine the statue.

     Or, in 730, Gyoki founded Seiryo-zan Akai-dera Temple.  In the 880's, it thrived to have over 20 sub-temples.  One of the sub-temples could have been Yakushi-in.  Akai-dera Temple fell into ruin during the Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392), involved in battle.

     The present main hall was built in 1657 and was repaired in 1990.

     The temple's precincts have Akai Well.  Aka comes from argha in Sanskrit.  Argha means the water offered to Buddhas and priests.

     The temple is now known as Peony Temple, and its origins date back to the early Meiji Period (1868-1912), when the head priest at the time planted peonies to use their roots for medicines.  A 2,000 square meter peony garden has been maintained within the temple grounds.  During the flowering season, around 2,000 peonies of around 50 species bloom.

     The temple’ Buddhist tanka poem is:

The water drawn from Aka Spring is very pure.

We offer the water to Buddha

With the same purity in mind.

Address: Nishioka-1636 Uozumicho, Akashi, Hyogo 674-0084

Phone: 078-942-0330