Virtual Miki County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #8 Jozen-ji Temple

 

     It is unknown when Jozen-ji Temple was founded in Yoshida Village, Miki County, Settsu Province.

     Shijimi Miyake was established in the latter half of the 6th century.  It is still disputable what miyake were, but some argue the Soga Clan established miyake, injecting their subordinate families into remote areas from their homeland, Yamato Province, to build up their nationwide hegemony.

     According to Nihonshoki, the Chronicles of Japan, whose editing was finished in 720, Prince Woke and his older brother, Prince Oke, sought refuge in Shijimi Village after their father, Ichinohe Oshiha, was killed by his cousin, Emperor Ohatsuse Wakatake (418-479).  Woke later became the 23rd Emperor.

     Yoshida Village appears in the Keicho Kuni-ezu, or the Keicho Maps of the Provinces, as part of the Shijimi area.

     For your information, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, followed the example of the Toyotomi administration and conducted a land survey of the distribution and rice yields of the feudal lords' territories and the lands of temples and shrines across Japan in September, 1605.  He appointed Nishio Yoshitsugu (1530-1606) as magistrate in charge of Eastern Provinces and Tsuda Hidemasa (1546-1653) as magistrate in charge of Western Provinces.  The Keicho Kuni-ezu, or the Keicho Maps of the Provinces, and Gocho, or the Registers of Villages, are said to have been made based on this survey.  The maps and registers are believed to have been destroyed in fires in Edo Castle, and no original copies exist today.  The only copies that remain are those covering 11 provinces and one island, and are limited to Western Japan.  Some even argue the maps and registers did not cover the entire country, but was limited to western provinces as part of oppressive policies against the western outsiders daimyo.

Address: Yoshida-38-2 Shijimicho, Miki, Hyogo 673-0501

Phone: 0794-82-4363