Kako County Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage

  

     The origins of the Kako County Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (est. 1922) are shrouded in mystery, with no record of its founders. However, its simultaneous creation alongside the local Bando and Chichibu routes suggests a deliberate, coordinated effort. This raises a compelling question: why did the organizers limit the Kako-Chichibu route to 33 temples, deviating from the 34 temples of the original Chichibu pilgrimage that traditionally make up the '100 Kannon' total?

     The expansion of the Kannon pilgrimages was deeply intertwined with political rivalry. After Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127–1192) established the Rakuyo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage as the first 'copy' of the Saigoku route, his political rival, Minamoto Yoritomo (1147–1199)—the first Kamakura Shogun—planned a second copy. This vision was realized as the Bando 33 Kannon Pilgrimage by the third Shogun, Minamoto Sanetomo (1192–1219), whose life was tragically cut short by assassination.

     Roughly two decades later, on March 18, 1234, the Chichibu 34 Kannon Pilgrimage was established, completing the lineage of the three great Kannon circuits.

     While the Chichibu route eventually expanded to 34 temples in the 16th century to complete the '100 Kannon' total, its origins—and its various local copies—continue to spark historical debate.

     This discrepancy raises an intriguing possibility: amid the sweeping tides of Taisho Democracy, were the organizers driven by a sense of 'Reactionism' or 'Fundamentalism'? Perhaps they sought a return to the original symbolism of the number 33, rejecting the later adjustments made for the sake of a '100 Kannon' total. As I visit each of the 99 temples across these three circuits, the true intentions of those 1922 organizers may finally come to light.