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2007/10/12


信松院 Shinshou-in Shinshoin Temple

Jp En

Shinshoin Temple located in Dai-machi, Hachioji City, Tokyo is a Soto sect temple worshipping Shakamuni Nyorai. As one of Hachioji Shichifukujin (the Seven Lucky Deities), it also worships Hotei-son.

The temple is deeply related to Matsuhime, a sixth daughter of Takeda Shingen. Matsuhime was born in 1561. At the age of seven, she was engaged to eleven-year-old Oda Nobutada, a son of Oda Nobunaga. But later, when the Takeda clan and the Oda clan got hostile to each other, the engagement was broken off. When the Oda forces invaded into the territory of Takeda clan in 1582, Matsuhime took refuge to Hachioji, where she visited the priest, Tozan Shunetsu at Shingenji Temple and became a nun with a Buddhist name of Shinsho. It is said that Shinshoin Temple originates in a hermitage where the nun Shinsho lived and spent the rest of her life as a Buddhist.

In the precinct is the nun Shinsho’s grave, which is a city’s designated Historic Site.  There are also the wooden model ships used in Hideyoshi’s Korean invasion displayed in the precinct. The temple is thronged with visitors when the ground cherry market is held in July every year.
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八王子 真覚寺 Hachiouji Shinkaku-ji Shinkakuji Temple in Hachioji

Jp En

Shinkakuji Temple located in Sanda-machi, Hachioji City, Tokyo is a temple of the Chizan school of the Shingon sect. The main object of worship is Fudo Myoo. The temple is the 71st fudasho-temple of the Tama Shin-Shikoku 88 Holy Sites. The temple was founded in 1411. The temple treasure of the sitting statue of Yakushi Nyorai is designated as a Cultural Property of the city. The bell and bell tower are said to have been dedicated by Hachioji Sennin Doshin (junior officials) in 1660.

Shinkakuji Temple is famous for azalea and “Kawazu Gassen (the Frog Concert).” In the precinct is a pond called Shinji-ike in the shape of the Chinese character for “heart,” around which grow a lot of azalea and they are in full bloom in the middle of June. From the middle to the end of March, a lot of toads move to this pond for laying eggs. Though the toads decreased in number today, there used to be tens of thousands of toads got together here, which was called “Frog Concert” by the local people.
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八王子 金剛院 Hachiouji Kongou-in Kongoin Temple in Hachioji

Jp En

Kongoin Temple located in Ueno-machi, Hachioji City, Tokyo is a Bekkaku Honzan (a special headquarters) of the Shingon sect. The main object of worship is Fudo Myoo. The temple is the 63rd fudasho-temple of the Kanto 88 Holy Sites, the 16th of the Buso 48 Kannon Sites, the 73rd of the Tama Shin-Shikoku 88 Holy Sites, and one of Hachioji Pilgrimage to Shichifukujin (the Seven Lucky Deities).

The temple was founded in 1576, when the priest Shinsei built a Fudo hall. In 1631, it was restored at this place as a sub-branch temple of Koyasan Kongobuji Temple and Jigenin Temple. The temple buildings were burned down by an air raid in 1945 and rebuilt in the post-war period.

Kongoin Temple is known for a large number of treasures, including the two statues of Jurojin and Fukurokuju of the Seven Lucky Deities, two Rokkyoku Byobu (six-panel screens) of Shihon Chakushoku Koyasan Zue (the illustrated description of Koyasan in color on paper) and Shihon Chakushoku Saiobo-zu (a painting of the Queen Mother of the West in color on paper), both of which are designated Tokyo Important Tangible Cultural Properties.
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薬王院有喜寺 Yakuou-in-yuuki-ji Yakuoin Yukiji Temple

Jp En

Yakuoin Yukiji Temple located in Takao-machi, Hachioji City, Tokyo is one of the three Daihonzan (head) temples of the Chizan school of the Shingon sect in the Kanto region. The main objects of worship are Yakushi Nyorai and Izuna Gongen. The temple is the 5th fudasho-temple of the Kanto 91 Pilgrimage to Yakushi Nyorai, the 8th of the Kanto 36 Sites Sacred to Fudo Myoo and the 68th of the Tama 88 Holy Sites. As many as 2,500 ancient documents are preserved at this temple.

It is said that the temple was founded in 744 by the monk Gyoki under the order of Emperor Shomu. As the statue of Yakushi Nyorai was placed at the foundation, the temple has been called Yakuoin. Later, a priest from Mt. Daigo in Kyoto founded a mountain practice ashram to worship Izuna Gongen, the deity who is believed to be residing in Mt. Iizuna in Nagano Prefecture. In the Edo period, an organization of mountain practitioners named “Takao-kou” was formed. Since then the temple has been the center of Takao Shugendo practice up to the present time.
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2007/10/9


八王子 永林寺 Hachiouji Eirin-ji Eirinji Temple in Hachioji

Jp En

Eirinji Temple located in Shimo-Yugi, Hachioji City, Tokyo is a temple of the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism. The main object of worship is Dakini Sonten. The temple is selected as one of Hachioji Hachiji-Hakkei (88 Scenic Places in Hachioji). The temple is pertaining to Oishi Sadahisa, a powerful warrior in the Warring States period (1493-1573), for there used to be a residence of Sadahisa at the place where the temple is located today. When Sadahisa moved to Takiyama Castle as the castellan in 1532, he founded the temple named Eirinji here. However at this time, the Kanji meaning “scale” was used for “rin (鱗)” as “永鱗寺.” Later when Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to the Kanto region, he praised the grove in the precinct of this temple. Then the Kanji meaning “grove (林)” came to be used for its name as “永林寺.”

Eirinji Temple is one of the most magnificent temples in Musashino area (the area including Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture). Passing through the three gates of So-mon, Ro-mon and Suzaku-mon, you will reach the main hall. On a hill behind the main hall is the ruin of Oishi Sadahisa‘s old residence.
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八王子 白山神社 Hachiouji Hakusan-jinja Hakusan Shrine in Hachioji

Jp En

Hakusan Shrine located in Nakayama, Hachioji City, Tokyo is a historic shrine. The enshrined deity is Izanagi no Mikoto. The exact era of its foundation is unknown, but according to the postscript of the Lotus Sutra excavated from the sutra mound in the precinct, the shrine had already existed in the late Heian period (794-1192), The postscript indicates that there used to be a temple named Choryuji as a jinguji (a temple housed in a shrine) in the precinct and the sutra is presumably dedicated in 1154 by the monk Benchi, a kinsman of Musashibo Benkei, who is said to have copied and dedicated the Lotus Sutra to seven shrines in the Kanto region.

The shrine was burned down by fire in the battle fought between the Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s forces and the Hojo clan at the siege of Odawara in 1590, but it was rebuilt in 1613. The 1,000-year-old Japanese umbrella pine tree in the precinct was designated as a Natural Monument by Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
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絹の道 Kinu-no-michi Silk Road

Jp En

Kinu no Michi, or Japanese Silk Road, is a highway connecting Hachiouji City to Tokyo and Yokohama City of Kanagawa Prefecture and it follows the same journey as today’s Route 16.
Hachiouji City had been known as Souto (translated as the city of mulberry) since old times and thrived with the production of raw silk. In 1859, as Yokohama opened its port to limited foreign trade, raw silk became an important export and Hachiouji became a vital hub for raw silk merchants from Nagano and Yamanashi area.
The road frequently used for the raw silk trade was called Yarimizu-kaidou or Hama-kaidou, but because the road was what the Silk Road was to the Asian continent, it later became known as Kinu no Michi, or Japanese Silk Road.
The road has been recognized for its historical importance and some parts of the road and vicinity were restored and preserved. In Yarimizu region of Hachiouji, there is the Silk Road Museum built inside the ruins of the mansion of a famous raw silk merchant.
The Silk Road is a valuable historical record that has many stories to tell of the silk trade merchants in late Edo period and the Meiji era to this day.
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八王子城跡 Hachiouji-jou-seki Hachioji Castle Ruins

Jp En

Hachioji Castle was located in present Moto-Hachioji-cho, Hachioji City, Tokyo. The castle is selected as one of Japan’s 100 Fine by Castles and its ruins are designated as a National Historic Site. It is said that the castle was built in the era between 1584 and 1587 by Hojo Ujiteru, the second son of Hojo Ujiyasu, who was the 3rd lord of Odawara Castle. In 1590, the castle was attacked by Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s troops with 15,000 soldiers as a part of his national unification campaigns. Though it was one of the largest fort castles in the Kanto region at the time, the castle fell in only one day and was dismantled.

At present, the ruins of Goshuden (the castellan’s residence), attached compounds and stone walls remain in Mt. Fukazawayama (Presently called Shiroyama) with an altitude of 445 m. After the elapse of 400 years, the ruins have been restored to its original forms and the site is open to public since 1990.

Down the slopes in the mountain are some historic sites pertaining to the castle such as the Goshuden-no-taki Waterfall, where Ujiteru’s wife and her maids threw themselves into the water and committed suicide at the attack by Hideyoshi’s troops, the grave yard of Hojo Ujiteru and his retainers, and Ujiteru’s family temple, Sokanji Temple. 
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