Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Gokoku-san Manpuku-ji Temple

 

     Manpuku-ji Temple was founded by the Kinugasa Family as their family temple at the foot of Hasetani Fortress sometime between 1264 and 1275.  It is unknown when the family built the fortress.

     In the Siege of Miki Castle, which lasted from 1578 to 1580, Kinugasa Kagenobu (1547-1631) fought for the Kuroda Family, who fought for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  Kinugasa Norikage, on the other hand, fought against Hideyoshi.  As Norikage once fought for Miyoshi Nagayoshi (1522-1564), Norikage might have been a generation older than Kagenobu.  Their names also suggest that Kagenobu was either the son or a vassal of Norikage.

In the Siege of Miki Castle, anyway, as well as the castle, Hasetani Fortress also fell on February 22nd, 1580.  The fortress was abolished but it is unknown what happened to Norikage.  Kagenobu kept fighting and working for the Kuroda Family, and, when the family moved to Chikuzen Province in 1601, he followed the family.

     Manpuku-ji Temple was moved to the site of the San-no-maru Enclosure, or the Third Enclosure, of Hasetani Fortress as late as before 1824.

     The Buddhist tanka poem of Manpuku-ji Temple is:

We sow seeds for coming generations

What they will harvest won't be crops

But the enlightenment of Buddhism.

Address: Teratani-923 Hasetanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2231

Hasetani Fortress Site

Address: Hasetanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2231