Trees In the Town

Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #13 Enko-ji Temple

 

     According to tradition, Enko-ji Temple was founded sometime between 729 and 749.  Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha was enshrined in 807, when many shrines and temples were founded mysteriously.

     In 709, Ideha County, which was pronounced Dewa later by the end of the 12th century, was established at the northern end of Koshi Province.  Ideha Fortress was supposedly built around that time at the estuary of Mogami River.  Ideha County was separated from Koshi Province and was promoted to province in 712.  In 733, Ideha Provincial Government Office, which was located in Ideha Fortress, was moved north to the estuary of Omono River.  That is, the Imperial Court's frontline advanced north about 100 kilometers.  Enko-ji Temple was founded when the Imperial Court's ambition grew bigger and bigger.

     The areas around the estuary of Omono River became unstable for some reason or other, and at last in 780, Abe Yakamaro, a general in Akita Fortress, reported to Emperor Konin (709-781) that the fortress should be abandoned.  That meant to retreat about 100 kilometers south again.

     Date Yukitomo (1291-1348), the 7th head of the Date Family, revived the temple in 1344.

     After the collapse of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1333, Yukitomo joined the Mutsu Provincial Government as one of the top executive, following Kitabatake Akiie (1318-1338), who was assigned as the Governor of the province under the Kenmu Restoration Government.

     When Akiie attacked Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) to the west in 1335, Yukitomo followed him and returned to Mutsu in 1336.  During their absence, the influence of the Northern Court increased and when the Taga Castle was threatened, the provincial government office was moved to Ryozen Fortress (Ryozenmachi Ishida, Date, Fukushima 960-0807) in his territory.

     In 1337, he followed Akiie's second attempt to advance west, which ended in a crushing defeat.  After Akiie's death, he sheltered at Isa Fortress in Isa County, Hitachi Province, with his relative, Nakamura Tsunenaga (?-1368), the lord of Nakamura Fortress, but when they were attacked by Ko Morofuyu (?-1351), Yukitomo and Tsunenaga broke through the enclosure and fled to their territories.

     Yukimoto might have revived the temple to pray for the war dead's comfort in the other world.

Address: 3888 Juo, Shirataka, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 992-0821

Phone: 0238-85-2294

Site of Tagajo Castle

Address: Ichikawa, Tagajō, Miyagi 985-0864

Phone: 022-368-1141

Nakamura Fortress Ruins

Address: Address: 2402 Naka, Moka, Tochigi 321-4351

Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #12 Tosho-ji Temple

 

     Priest Sonkaku, who lived from the end of the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) to the Southern and Northern Courts Period (1336-1392), kept his diary and named it Sode-Nikki, which means Margin Diary.  Komatsu Village was first documented in the diary.

     Sato Sakube brought an image of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, from the top of Mount Wakamatsu, Aizu County, Iwashiro Province, to his land in Komatsu Village, Okitama County, Dewa Province, sometime between 1688 and 1704.

     Sakube also founded Komatsu Kotai Shrine in 1668 to pray to Ise Shrine from his hometown.

     Komatsu Kotai Shrine was taken care of by the Kurata Family, its Shinto priests.  The family was also a vassal of the Uesugi Clan, who ruled Okitama County in the Edo Period (1603-1867).

     The Kurata Family first immigrated to Echigo Province as a ramie merchant as well as a Shinto priest of Ise Shrine, which expanded its religious network throughout Japan in the Warring States Period (1467-1568) to cover the loss of its manors to warlords.  Dispatched Shinto priests had, accordingly, economic missions too.

     Ramie is one of the oldest fiber crops, having been used for at least 6,000 years, and is principally used for fabric products such as industrial sewing thread, packing materials, fishing nets, and filter cloths.

     The Uesugi Clan ruled Echigo Province in the Warring states Period, but was moved to Aizu County and then to Okitama County, reducing their income.  The Kurata Family moved with the Uesugi Clan.  Why did Sakube support Buddhism and Shinto?  Because of nostalgia?  Did he have any other economical motivation?

Address: 1621-3 Akayu, Nanyō, Yamagata 999-2211

Phone: 0238-43-2457

Komatsu Kotai Shrine

Address: 3099 Kamikomatsu, Kawanishi, Higashiokitama District, Yamagata 999-0121

Phone: 0238-42-3048

Trees In the Town

Trees In the Town

Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #11 Zuiun-ji Temple

 

     An Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha image was enshrined at the top of Mt. Nagate in 1215.  In the Edo Period, it was moved to its present place.  As Zuiun-ji Temple has a stone monument for Mount Iide, the image might have had something to do with the mountain worship of Mount Iide.

     Iidesan Shrine was founded in 652, when Priest Zhidao, who came from China, climbed to the top of Mt. Iide and named the mountain Iide.  He also likened the Iide mountain ranges to the five gods, and named them Ichi-oji, Ni-oji, San-oji, Shi-oji, and Go-oji.

     In the areas around Mount Iide, it was believed that the dead ascend to the sky and that their ancestors watch over them from the high points of Mount Iide.  A visit to Mount Iide was a rite of passage into adulthood for the local residents, and it was customary for boys to climb Mount Iide when they reached the age of 13 to 15.

     After the Meiji Restoration, the abolition of feudal domains and establishment of prefectures was implemented in 1871, and Higashikanbara District, which had been part of Aizu, was separated from Fukushima Prefecture, and Iidesan Sanctuary Shrine was incorporated into Mikawa Village (currently Aga Town), Higashikanbara District, Niigata Prefecture.  However, Ichinoki Village (present-day Kitakata City), Yama District, where the Iidesan Entrance Shrine is located, objected to this, insisting,  "Iidesan Shrine, which includes the Sanctuary Shrine and the Entrance Shrine is a part of Ichinoki Village."  In the end, in 1907, a ruling by the Department of the Interior made the pilgrimage route to Mount Iide the land of Ichinoki Village.  The current irregularly shaped borders among Fukushima, Niigata, and Yamagata Prefectures originate from this.

     Fukushima Prefecture includes the approximately 7.5 kilometers mountain trail from Mt. Mikuni, which literally means Three Provinces, and which is the topographical boundary between the three prefectures, through Mount Iide to the vicinity of Onishi-hut to the west of Peak Onishi, and the precincts of the shrine at the summit of Mount Iide.  Of this, the length is about 4 kilometers from Mt. Mikuni to Omaezaka but the width is about 91 centimeters, and the maximum width around the summit of Mount Iide and Iidesan Shrine is about 300 meters.

Address: 1405 Hagyu, Iide, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 999-0602

Phone: 0238-72-3004

Iidesan Shrine

Address: Yamatomachi Ichinoki, Kitakata, Fukushima 969-4108

Trees In the Town

Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #10 Fumon-bo Temple

 

     Kumano Shrine was invited to the mountainside of Mt. Kumano in Okitama County in 1129.

     The Later Three-Year War was fought in the northeastern part of Japan in the late 1080s.  It was a kind of internal strife within the Kiyohara Clan.  First, Kiyohara Iehira (?-1087) and Kiyohira (1056-1128) fought against Sanehira (?-1083).  After Sanehira’s death, Iehira clashed against Kiyohira.  From the central government, Minamoto Yoshiie (1039-1106) intervened in the conflict.  The intervention brought victory to Kiyohira, who then picked up his paternal family name, Fujiwara, and the Kiyohara Clan disappeared in 1087.

     After Kiyohira's death in 1128, his first son, Koretsune (1090-1130), and the second son, Motohira (1105-1157), fought over inheritance.  Koretsune and his family and followers, more than 20 of them, tried to flee to Echigo Province, but they were caught, and beheaded on June 8th, 1130.  Okitama County was on their escape route.

Address: 14-8 Yokomachi, Nagai, Yamagata 993-0087

Phone: 0238-84-0427

Kumano Shrine

Address: 14-24 Yokomachi, Nagai, Yamagata 993-0087

Kumano Shrine Sanctuary

Address: Iide, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 993-0061

Trees In the Town

Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #9 Eisen-ji Temple

 

     Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, was enshrined in the upstream gorge of Omoi River sometime between 806 and 810.  Mysteriously, many shrines and temples were founded in the North-Eastern Region in the 800's.  Eisen-ji Temple didn't exaggerate its history and hasn't passed down its founder's name.

     Omoi River is a branch of Mogami River.  Omoi River's alluvial fan was agriculturally developed from its base to its apex.  After the apex, people developed its upper reaches and formed Kurofuji Village.

Address: 662-1 Kurofuji, Shirataka, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 992-0841

Phone: 0238-85-5060

Trees In the Town

Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #8 Kannon-ji Temple

 

     Priest Anchin enshrined Thousand-Armed Eleven-Faced Ekadasamukha or Eleven-Faced Thousand-Armed Sahasrabhuja sometime between 806 and 810.  Mysteriously, many shrines and temples were founded in the North-Eastern Region in the 800's.  Most of them exaggerate their histories by assuming their founders to be historic religious leaders, but this temple has passed down an unknown name.

     Kannon-ji Temple was founded in 1164 by Nagaoka Masakatsu, whose Buddhist name was Yusei, to enshrine the statue.  He is also historically obscure.  The statue was burned in fire.  Its legs were lost and its surface was carbonized.  Its hall was rebuilt in the Warring States Period, and is the oldest building in Yamagata Prefecture.  The statue is hidden from public view, and its exhibition copy was made in the Edo Period.

Address: 3072 Miyama, Shirataka, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 992-0776

Phone: 0238-85-3063

Trees In the Town

Virtual Okitama 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #7 Enpuku-ji Temple

 

     Ayukai Shigehira lived in Takadama Village, developed an alluvial fan, and built a fortress at the foot of it.  He called his family Takadama.  The Takadama Family ruled Takadama Village for 4 generations from the 1530's to the 1560's.  Enpuku-ji Temple was their family temple.

     The temple's main deity, the gilt bronze statue of Arya Avalokitesvara, who is the human-figure prototype of the other 6 metamorphoses, is the oldest gilt bronze Buddhist image in Yamagata Prefecture.  The statue is supposed to have been made at the end of the 7th century.  Its history is, however, not recorded.

     Okitama County first appeared in a document on January 3rd, 669.  Its county government office is supposed to have been located in today's Nagai City.  All in all, the Arya Avalokitesvara statue could have been brought to Ideha Province not long after the birth of the county presumably as a present for a local powerful family.  It is unknown whether the statue stayed in Okitama County since those days or was moved to Takadama Village later.

Address: 1207-1 Takadama, Shirataka, Nishiokitama District, Yamagata 992-0773

Phone: 0238-85-5295