Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #18 Gokoku-san Manpuku-ji Temple

 

     Manpuku-ji Temple was founded by the Kinugasa Family as their family temple at the foot of Hasetani Fortress sometime between 1264 and 1275.  It is unknown when the family built the fortress.

     In the Siege of Miki Castle, which lasted from 1578 to 1580, Kinugasa Kagenobu (1547-1631) fought for the Kuroda Family, who fought for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  Kinugasa Norikage, on the other hand, fought against Hideyoshi.  As Norikage once fought for Miyoshi Nagayoshi (1522-1564), Norikage might have been a generation older than Kagenobu.  Their names also suggest that Kagenobu was either the son or a vassal of Norikage.

In the Siege of Miki Castle, anyway, as well as the castle, Hasetani Fortress also fell on February 22nd, 1580.  The fortress was abolished but it is unknown what happened to Norikage.  Kagenobu kept fighting and working for the Kuroda Family, and, when the family moved to Chikuzen Province in 1601, he followed the family.

     Manpuku-ji Temple was moved to the site of the San-no-maru Enclosure, or the Third Enclosure, of Hasetani Fortress as late as before 1824.

     The Buddhist tanka poem of Manpuku-ji Temple is:

We sow seeds for coming generations

What they will harvest won't be crops

But the enlightenment of Buddhism.

Address: Teratani-923 Hasetanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2231

Hasetani Fortress Site

Address: Hasetanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2231

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #17 Kinko-ji Temple

 

     Omi-san Kinko-ji Temple is said to have been founded in 646 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 whether Hodo was still alive in 646.

     The main deity of the temple, the Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha, is said to have been carved by Hodo from a cherry tree floating on the surface of Lake Biwa and is displayed to the public only once every 60 years.  Kinko is another pronunciation of Omi, the province where Lake Biwa was located.

     Kinko-ji Temple was destroyed by fire when Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) besieged Miki Castle in 1579.  The main hall was rebuilt in 1662.

     The temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:

Ekadasamukha has traveled so far

To the top of Omi-san, or Mount Omi,

Which seems superior to Mount Hira in Omi Province.

     Kinko-ji Temple is also the #26 member temple of the Harima 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.

Address: Kinko-147 Oshibedanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2203

Phone: 078-994-0007

Miki Castle Ruins

Address: 5 Uenomarucho, Miki, Hyogo 673-0432

Phone: 0794-82-2000

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #16 Shokai-ji Temple

 

     Shokai-ji Temple was founded by Gyoki (668-749) in 730.  Fragrant wood was bestowed upon him by Emperor Shomu (701-756).  Gyoki carved the wood into the image of Cintamanicakra, who usually has 6 arms and holds chintamani (a wish-fulfilling jewel) in one of the six, and made it the main deity of the temple.

     In 1579, the temple was destroyed by fire when Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) attacked Miki Castle.  In 1648, the Tokugawa Shogunate issued a red sealed permission to reconstruct the main hall, Amidabha Hall, and other buildings, and ordered a ceremony to exorcise Nui so as to realize social stability, and happiness and prosperity for all.  Until the Meiji Restoration, the temple  had 24 sub-temples, but most were destroyed during the Haibutsu Kishaku (literally "abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakamuni”) movement, and only 2 remain.

     On November 5, 2022, the main hall was completely destroyed by fire and the main deity was also lost.

     The temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:

The evening bell rings out,

Creating a sense of impermanence in Hosho-ji Temple,

Surrounded by the twilight of other houses.

Address: Takawa-1318 Oshibedanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2204

Phone: 078-994-0067

Miki Castle Ruins

Address: 5 Uenomarucho, Miki, Hyogo 673-0432

Phone: 0794-82-2000

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #15 Chofuku-ji Temple

 

     Chofuku-ji Temple was founded by Gyoki in 730.  It is also the 5th on the Kobe Six Jizo Pilgrimage.

     Six Jizo Pilgrimage is based on the idea of the Six Paths in Buddhist cosmology.  The paths are the 6 worlds where sentient beings are reincarnated based on their karma, which is linked to their actions in previous lives.  The six paths are:

1. the world of gods or celestial beings (deva)

2. the world of human beings (manushya)

3. the world of warlike demigods (asura)

4. the world of animals (tiryagyoni)

5. the world of hungry ghosts (preta)

6. the world of Hell (naraka)

     In the Kobe Six Jizo Pilgrimage, they are in reverse order, and Chofuku-ji Temple is supposed to correspond to #2 the world of human beings (manushya).

     The main deity is the Ksitigarbha statue, which holds a jewel in his left hand and a khakkhara in his right.  It dates back to at the latest the late Heian Period (794-1185).  It stands 120 centimeters tall and is carved from a single piece of wood.  Its attendant Buddhist images are Acalanatha and Vaisravana.  The question is where the #15 deity of the Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, which is supposed to be Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, is.

      The Ksitigarbha statue is believed to have been the guardian deity of Priest Chukai (1162-1227), who was the 4th son of Taira Norimori (1128-1185), who drowned himself in the Battle of Dan-no-ura, when the Taira Clan was destroyed by the Minamoto Clan.  Chukai was captured in the battle and exiled to Izu Province the same year.  In the province, he spent his time under the guardianship of Kano Muneshige (?-1193), and received the support of Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate.  Chukai returned to Kyoto in 1189.  He was given back the land in Sanjo Ogawa Takahata, which had belonged to his father and founded Hobodai-in Temple there.

     In the world of human beings (manushya), good fortune and bad fortune are like a twisted rope.

In the mid-Edo period, Priest Eishu revived Chofuku-ji Temple, purchasing the Amida Hall of Kinko-ji Temple.

     Chofuku-ji Temple has Chofukuji Archaeological Museum.

     Teh temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:

The Buddha's broad vow

To relieve all people together

Is as broad as the ocean.

Address: Yoda-369 Oshibedanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2205

Phone: 078-994-0150

Kinko-ji Temple

Address: Kinko-147 Oshibedanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2203

Phone: 078-994-0007

Hobodai-in Temple

Address: 1223-2 Oharano Minamikasugacho, Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto, 610-1153

Phone: 075-331-3823

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #14 Shomyo-ji Temple

 

     Shomyo-ji Temple was founded in 1651 in Nishi-Toda Village.  The village was already on the map published in 1611.  It is strange that there has never been a Higashi-Toda Village.

     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.

     The temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:

Thankfully, even the trees and grasses

Show the colors of the Buddhist teachings,

Which Shomyo-ji Temple never ceases to offer.

     Before World War II, when Aprils arrived, the temple would erect flags and streamers,

and the elderly villagers would come out and wait for pilgrims to come, lively preparing to serve hot water and tea.  The pilgrimage was revived after the war, but, before we were aware of it, they disappeared.

Address: Nishitoda-818 Hiranocho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2267

Phone: 078-961-0646

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Chofuku-ji Temple

 

     Amida-ji Temple was founded in Inji Village, Akashi County, Harima Province, sometime between 957 and 961 by Monk Kuya (903-972).

     In 1441, the Kakitsu Rebellion broke out, and the Akamatsu Clan, who ruled Harima Province, was destroyed by the Ashikaga Shogunate.  Akamatsu Tokikatsu (1433-1455) became fatherless.  He first hid himself in Murotsu, Harima Province.  He was later brought up in Jogan-ji Temple in Yono Village, Asai County, Omi Province.  When he died at the age of 23, his son, Masanori (1455-1496), was just 8 months old.  He miraculously revived the Akamatsu Clan.  He took advantage of the Onin War (1467-1477) and carried out a kind of Reconquista in Harima Province.  Akashi County was engulfed in the Reconquista and so was Amida-ji Temple.

     After the temple was burned down during the Onin War, it was renamed Cofuku-ji when its buildings were rebuilt.

     In 1652, Priest Rinpo built a priests' quarter and converted the temple to the Linji Chan Sect.

     According to Akashi Ki, or Akashi Topography, which was written by Nagano Tsuneomi and edited by Oi Tsunetaka, who was a vassal of Akashi Domain, around the 1720's, Inaji Village had Kannon-do Hall besides Chofuku-ji and Shogaku-ji Temples.  Tsuneomi recorded that the hall was the #13 member temple of the Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage.  A Buddhist tanka poem suggests the hall was called Hokurin-ji, namely North Grove Temple.  As the Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized in 1658, Hokurin-ji Temple’s being the pilgrimage’s original member isn’t unreasonable, but it is unknown when the temple was abolished and the membership was transferred to Chofuku-ji Temple.

     The Buddhist tanka poem for the Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 is:

People all gather from East, West, and South

And climb North to Hokurin-ji Temple to pray to

For the light of the Buddha in our life.

Address: 166 Hiranocho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2266

Phone: 078-961-0202

Jogan-ji Temple

Address: 828-1 Owakicho, Higashiomi, Shiga 527-0091

Phone: 0748-24-2370

Shogaku-ji Temple

Address: Inji-302 Hiranocho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2266

Phone: 078-961-2236

Trees In the Town

 

Virtual Akashi 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Saiko-ji Temple

 

  Some say Monk Hyetaeg had something to do with the foundation of Saiko-ji Temple.  Hyetaeg was from Goguryeo in the Korean Peninsula and moved to Harima Province in Japan.  When Emperor Nunakura no Futotamashiki (538?-585?) invited a Buddhist image from Baekje in the peninsula, Hyetaeg took part in the religious ceremony as a Buddhist monk.

     Actually, the Deai Ruins have 7 ancient burial mounds, pit dwellings, and others.  The area should have been developed since pre-historic days.

    According to temple tradition, Muryo-an Hermitage was built by Yuishoin Shinkaku, who later became the 3rd head priest of Shokai-ji Temple, sometime between 1249 and 1255 in the mid-Kamakura Period (1185-1333), when faith in Amitabha was beginning to spread throughout Harima Province.

     After ups and downs, sometime between 1655 and1657, the current main hall was built by Priest Reido, the hermitage was changed into an official Buddhist temple, and was renamed Muryoju-san Saiko-ji Temple.

     Sometime between 1804 and 1816, Priest Ryuga remodeled the main hall into a 2-storied pagoda type.  In 1877, the temple merged with Dachi-zan Seiryu-ji Temple.

     The temple’s Buddhist tanka poem is:

The various religious merits

Kannon Bodhisattva delivers from the temple

Answer our prayers which are as deep as the Deai River.

Address: Deai−255, Tamatsucho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2137

Phone: 078-927-9640

Shokai-ji Temple

Address: Takawa-1318 Oshibedanicho, Nishi Ward, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2204

Phone: 078-994-0067