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