Virtual Arima County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Hosho-ji Temple

 

     Hosho-ji Temple was founded in September, 1502, by Priest Zenkei in Dojokawara Village, Arima County, Settsu Province.

     Dojokawara Village was located at the confluence of the Arima and Arino rivers, tributaries of the Muko River.  The road from the Tamba Province to Kohama Village (today's Kohama, Takarazuka, Hyogo 665-0827) and the road from Harima Province to Arima Onsen, or Arima Hotsprings, converged in Dojokawara Village.  In the Middle Ages, the village is believed to have been part of Hata Manor.

     According to Gion Shigyo Nikki, literally Gion Shrine's Officers' Journal, Kensen, ex-officer of the shrine, traveled to Arima for a hot spring cure and also visited Hiromine Shrine in the autumn of 1371.  He left Arima on October 7th, passing through Yamaguchi Manor (in today's Nishinomiya City) and Dojogawara Village in Hata Manor, and headed to a territory of the Akamatsu Family.  Gion Shrine is called Yasaka Shrine today.

     According to the entry for February 15th, 1466, in the Inryoken Journal, on that day, a Saruku, today’s Noh play, was performed by Yatsuko-dayu, a Noh player based in Tanba Province, in Dojogawara Village to raise money.  Inryoken was an office which functioned as a messenger between Ahikaga Shogunate and Buddhist temples.  The entry suggests that the village was a kind of a trading center.

     In 1578, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) pitched camps in Dojogawara and Sanbonmatsu Villages to rival Sanda Castle of Araki Shigekata (?-1600) according to the entry for December 11th of the same year of Shincho Koki, which was compiled after the death of Nobunaga by his vassal, Ota Gyuichi (1527-1613), based on his notes and diary.  That suggests the village was a strategic point.

     Dojokawara Village developed along the roads from the mid-Muromachi Period (1336-1573).  By the end of the 17th century, it was designated a post station by the Tokugawa Shogunate, and inns and merchant houses lined the streets.  Hossho-ji Temple also experienced a period of growth during this time, with the Nirvana Painting donated by the Miyazaki Family of Jiro Village and the gold kusamamala donated by Chaya Chobei both in 1694.  Furthermore, in 1704, the legend of Koyasu Jizo was born.  A village headman blessed with children at the time erected a magnificent stone statue of Koyasu Jizo, or Ksitigarbha as the guardian of children and/or pregnancy, next to the Kannon-do Hall, and it is now worshipped as one of the Hokusetsu Six Jizo.

     The main hall and priests' quarters were rebuilt in 1868.  Under the 43rd priest, Jiko, the temple complex underwent renovations, including the reconstruction of the Kannon-do Hall, the copper roof of the main hall, and the reconstruction of the Koyasu Jizo Hall.  Also, due to its connection with Koyasu Jizo, the temple began operating a nursery school in 1958, striving to educate local young children.　

     The temple's Buddhist tanka poem is:

Since this is a training center by the river,

The voices of the nature of the Dharma

Wave the river innumerably.

Address: 106 Dojocho, Kita Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-1501

Phone: 078-951-2607

Hiromine Shrine

Address: 52 Hiromineyama, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0891

Phone: 079-288-4777

Yasaka Shrine

Address: 625 Gionmachi Kitagawa, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0073

Phone: 075-561-6155

Sanda Castle Site

Address: Yashikimachi 2 Chome-2-20, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1532