Trees In the Town

 

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

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Miki County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Jogon-ji Temple

 

     Jogon-ji Temple is said to have the grave of Akamatsu Norimura (1277-1350).  The back of the Onko Chishin (Learning from the Past) stone monument in front of the temple gate bears the inscription "Grave of the Founder, Akamatsu Norimura."

     In the Kanno Disturbance from 1350 to 1352, Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) and his steward, Ko Moronao (?-1351), fought against Takauji's younger brother, Tadayoshi (1307-1352).  Norimura sided with Takauji.  While organizing an army to pursue Tadafuyu (1327-1387), who was Takauji's illegitimate son, and who was Tadayoshi's adopted son, Norimura died suddenly on January 11th, 1350, at his residence in Shichijo, Kyoto.  He was 74 years old.  He was buried at Kyusho-in Temple, a sub-temple of Kennin-ji Temple in Higashiyama, Kyoto.  A memorial tower was built at Houn-ji Temple in his home town.  It is unknown who built his "grave" in Miki County, Harima Province.

Address: 1038 Shukuhara, Miki, Hyogo 673-0423

Phone: 0794-82-1829

Kysho-in Temple

Address: 597 Komatsucho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 605-0811

Phone: 075-561-7074

Kennin-ji Temple

Address: 584 Komatsucho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto 605-0811

Phone: 075-561-6363

Houn-ji Temple

Address: 637 Kokenawa, Kamigori, Ako District, Hyogo 678-1277

Phone: 0791-52-4129

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Miki County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #6 Shonyu-ji Temple

 

     In 1601, when Iki Tadatsugu (1543-1603), a chief retainer of Ikeda Terumasa (1565-1613), who was the 1st lord of Himeji Domain, became lord of Miki Castle, Tadatsugu invited Priest Nichizan from Sainen-ji Temple in Ono Village, Chita County, Owari Province, and founded Gokoku-zan Shonyu-ji Temple to pray for comfort of his former lord, Ikeda Tsuneoki (1536-1584), in the other world, as the family temple of the Iki Family.  The temple enshrines the memorial Buddhist tablets of Ikeda Tsuneoki, Terumasa, Iki Tadatsugu, and, his son, Tadashige (1581-1616).  Gokoku means to Protect Province.

Address: 1 Chome-7-21 Honmachi, Miki, Hyogo 673-0431

Phone: 0794-82-5768

Sainen-ji Temple

Address: 9 Chome−139, Onocho, Tokoname, Aichi 479-0866

Phone: 0569-42-0234

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Miki County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #5 Unryu-ji Temple

 

     According to temple legend, Unryu-ji Temple was founded in 957 by Priest Ryogen, who belonged to the Tiantai Sect.  It was later destroyed by fire during the Hogen Era (1156–1159), but was rebuilt by Akamatsu Norimura (1277-1350) in 1322 and was transferred to Caodong Chan School.  In the Warring States Period (1467-1573), the temple gained the patronage of the Bessho Family.  The temple was destroyed by fire in 1578, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) besieged Miki Castle from 1578 to 1580.  After the war, Hideyoshi granted land to the temple.

     The temple precincts have a grave where the heads of Bessho Nagaharu (1558-1580) and his wife, Teruko (?-1580), who were defeated in Hideyoshi's attack on Miki Castle, are said to have been buried.  A memorial service is held at the temple every year on January 17th, the anniversary of their suicide.

     Nagaharu left a death tanka poem:

Now I have no grudges

Because I think of our own lives

As being substitutes for others.

     Did Teruko and his family have no grudges?

Address: 9-4 Uenomarucho, Miki, Hyogo 673-0432

Phone: 0794-82-0740

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Miki County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #4 Koya-san Gachirin-ji Temple

 

     Legend has it that Gachirin-ji Temple was founded by Hodo in 652.  Hodo traveled from India through Tang China and the Korean kingdom of Baekje to Japan from the 6th to 7th centuries.  It is unknown if Hodo was still alive in 652.

Gachirin-ji Temple and Omiya Hachima Shrine annually hold the Tsuina Ritual in cooperation, so Gachirin-ji Temple might be a shrine temple of Omiya Hachima Shrine, whose foundation date is unknown.

     Omiya Hachiman Shrine was supported by the Bessho Family.

     It is also unknown why Hoju-in and Gachirin-ji Temple shared the same sango and jigo once.

Address: 2 Chome-17-40 Honmachi, Miki, Hyogo 673-0431

Phone: 0794-82-0779

Omiya Hachima Shrine

Address: 2 Chome-19-1 Honmachi, Miki, Hyogo 673-0431

Phone: 0794-82-0401

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Miki County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #3 Hoju-in Temple

 

     According to legend, Hoju-in Temple, or a temple, was founded in 652 by Hodo, who traveled from India through Tang China and the Korean kingdom of Baekje to Japan from the 6th to 7th centuries.  It is unknown if Hodo was still alive in 651.

     The temple was later called Koya-san Gachirin-ji Hoju-in Temple and had 10 monk houses.  When Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) besieged Miki Castle from 1578 to 1580, the temple was burned down.  It was revived by Priest Kusen in 1584, but was again severely damaged, and underwent major repairs in 1682.  In March, 1873, Senzo-in Temple was merged with Hoju-in Temple.  As the Meiji Restoration Government issued the Gods and Buddhas Separation Order in 1868, Senzo-in Temple might have been a shrine temple or could have belonged to Shugendo, a syncretic Esoteric Buddhist religion.  The government, which erected a barrier between Shinto and Buddhism, ruled that Shugendo was unacceptable because of its amalgamation of the 2 religions, and officially forbade it in 1872.

Address: 3 Chome-13-5 Fukui, Miki, Hyogo 673-0433

Phone: 0794-82-0719

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Miki County 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #2 Kongo-ji Temple

 

     Kongo-ji Temple was founded in 651 by Hodo, who traveled from India through Tang China and the Korean kingdom of Baekje to Japan from the 6th to 7th centuries.

     Kongo-ji Temple burned down when Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) attacked Miki Castle.  The head priest at the time, Ryosei, requested the restoration of Kongo-ji Temple through the mediation of Omura Yuko, a former monk of Kongo-ji Temple, who was Hideyoshi's assistant.  The restoration was subsequently granted, and a thatched roofed main hall was built in 1580.

     For your information, Raionbo was a monk at Aoyagi-san Choraku-ji Temple, a sub-temple of Kongo-ji Temple in Omura Village, Miki County, Settsu Province.  In his youth, he studied classical Chinese under Priest Shugyo (1483-1574), who was the 91st head priest of Shokoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, and cultivated the art of tanka poetry by visiting various tanka masters.  He became known for his profound knowledge.  He is said to have become an assistant scribe of Hideyoshi when he besieged Miki Castle from 1578 to 1580 and ruled Omura Village.  Raionbo is thought to have changed his name to Omura Yuko in those days.  When Hideyoshi made the Great Chugoku Retreat in 1582, Yuko participated in a military council at Himeji Castle.  He might have already established himself as Hideyoshi's confidant by this time.  That same year, he became the head priest of Tenman-gu Shrine in Osaka.

     While Hideyoshi was unifying Japan, Yuko not only served as an attendant but also wrote Hideyoshi's military chronicle, the Tenshoki.  The work emphasizes Hideyoshi's greatness.  Yuko seems to have served as a spokesman for the legitimacy of the Toyotomi Regime.

     During the Imjin War in 1592, Yuko accompanied Hideyoshi to Nagoya in Hizen Province.  Hideyoshi's devotion to Noh play at the time was so great that, not content with simply performing existing works, Hideyoshi is said to have commissioned Yuko to compose new Noh plays to commemorate Hideyoshi's own exploits for future generations.  Yuko's new Noh plays, "Cherry Blossom Viewing at Yoshino," "Pilgrimage to Koyasan," "The Attack on Akechi," "The Attack on Shibata," and "The Attack on Hojo," all feature Hideyoshi in the lead role.  Hideyoshi personally performed "The Attack on Akechi" at Osaka Castle on March 15th, 1594, and at the Imperial Palace on April 12th, indicating that it was a favorite of Hideyoshi.

     In addition to the war chronicles and new Noh plays mentioned above, Yuko also displayed a wide range of talents in Noh, tanka poems, renga poems, haikai poems, and kyoka poems.  He was also known to have had friendships with intellectuals of his time, including Fujiwara Seika (1561-1619), Yamashina Tokitsugu (1507-1579), Satomura Joha (1525-1602), and others.  He also had a deep knowledge of ancient calligraphy, having written the Baian Kohitsuden, Biography of Ancient Calligraphy.  Baian was his pseudonym.

Omura Yuko died on May 7th, 1596, at Tenman-gu Shrine in Settsu Province at the age of 60.

Address: 1041 Omura, Miki, Hyogo 673-0404

Phone: 0794-82-0722

Shokoku-ji Temple

Address: 701 Sokokuji Monzencho, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto 602-0898

Phone: 075-231-0301

Himeji Castle

Address: 68 Honmachi, Himeji, Hyogo 670-0012

Phone: 079-285-1146

Osaka Tenman-gu Shrine

Address: 2 Chome-1-8 Tenjinbashi, Kita Ward, Osaka, 530-0041

Phone: 06-6353-0025

Nagoya Castle Ruins

Address: 1931-3 Chinzeimachi Nagoya, Karatsu, Saga 847-0401