Virtual Kako County Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Ryosen-ji Temple

 

     Ryosen-ji Temple was founded in Komiya Village, Kako County, Harima Province in 1523.  The village was first documented in 1354.

    Akamatsu Yoshimura (?-1521), the 10th head of the Akamatsu Clan, was assassinated on September 17th, 1521, and the clan practically declined into a local lord.  In 1354, Harima Province was in the age of rival warlords.  Without being united by any of them, the province was suppressed by Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) in 1580.

     Under such turbulence, the locals had a good reason to have their own Buddhist temple to pray for their comfort in the other world.

     Ryosen-ji Temple is the 24th site of the Kako County Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, which was established during the Taisho period (1912–1926). While the pilgrimage itself is relatively modern, the Kannon statue enshrined in the temple’s Kannon-do hall carries a profound history that traces back to the Edo period, interwoven with the fate of two vanished temples: Shogen-ji and Kaizen-ji Temples.

     According to local historical records from Harima Town, there were once four Buddhist temples in Komiya Village during the Edo period (1603-1867). However, during the anti-Buddhist movement (Haibutsu Kishaku) in the early Meiji period, Shogen-ji Temple was abolished. Its main hall was subsequently dismantled and relocated to Ryosen-ji Temple, where it stands today as the Kannon-do hall. Around the same time, another nearby temple named Kaizen-ji was also closed, and its statues were transferred to Ryosen-ji Temple as well.

     This historical timeline opens up a fascinating and highly plausible hypothesis regarding the origin of the 24th pilgrimage statue:

     The Shogen-ji Origin Theory (The Most Likely Candidate): Since the current Kannon-do hall is the original main hall of Shogen-ji Temple, it is highly probable that the Kannon statue enshrined inside was also inherited from Shogen-ji Temple.

     The Kaizen-ji or Local Origin Theory: Alternatively, the statue might have belonged to Kaizen-ji Temple, whose suspected former site is the current Komiya Yakushi-do Hall and its adjacent cemetery, and was placed in the newly relocated hall to preserve the village's spiritual heritage.

     In conclusion, although official documents do not explicitly name the original owner of the statue, the 24th Kannon of Ryosen-ji Temple is a sacred relic that likely survived the turbulent transition into the modern era, embodying the combined devotion of the lost temples of old Komiya Village.

Address: 6-chome-10-47 Komiya, Harima, Kako District, Hyogo 675-0163

Phone: 078-942-4587

Komiya Yakushi-do Hall

Address: 14 Komiya, Harima, Kako District, Hyogo 675-0163

The Grave of Imazato Denbei (1610-1660)

Address: Kamizukuri 14-471-11, Komiya, Harima, Kako District, Hyogo 675-0163

(The Grave of Imazato Denbei used to be located in the graveyard of Ganman-ji Temple, which itself used to be located in the southwest of Akiga-ike Pond.)

Akiga-ike Pond

Address: Komiya, Harima, Kako District, Hyogo 675-0163