Virtual Kako County Chichibu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Kannon-do Hall

 

     Based on historical and geographical evidence, Kitano Village likely emerged in the late Sengoku period (late 16th century) as a secondary settlement formed by clearing the wilderness directly north of Noguchi Village—an origin reflected in its inclusion in the Keicho Kuniezu (1605 provincial map) and its name, meaning "northern field." Because Kitano was an offshoot village, it never established an independent Buddhist temple of its own; instead, its villagers relied on the major established temples in adjacent Noguchi for funerary services and ancestral rites.

     However, as was common in early modern rural communities, the village maintained an unstaffed local hall—the Kannon-do hall—for collective worship. During the mid-to-late Edo period, further agricultural expansion led to the creation of the satellite settlement Kitano Shinden (Kitano New Lands). In the Taisho era, when the Kakogun Chichibu 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was established, this local shrine was selected as the 12th station.

     As 20th-century modernization reorganized local infrastructure, the original structure of the Kannon-do hall was likely dismantled or repurposed. Its former site was most probably converted into a community hub—such as the present-day Kitano Shinden Civic Center or the Kitano Kita Community Center—or redeveloped into the Kitano Cemetery Park, with any remaining sacred statues either consolidated into local civic grounds or transferred to nearby temples.

Kitano Shinden Community Center

Address: Kitano-1056-2 Noguchicho, Kakogawa, Hyogo 675-0011

Kitanokita Community Center

Address: Kitano-733-3 Noguchicho, Kakogawa, Hyogo 675-0011

Goshadai Shrine

Address: Kitano-1289-10 Noguchicho, Kakogawa, Hyogo 675-0011