↑A statue of Rennyo
The images I posted on this post are the site of "Yoshizaki Gobou" in Awara city, Fukui prefecture. it's located in the prefectural border between Fukui and Ishikawa.
If you have visited Kyoto city you may see two large Buddhist temples near Kyoto station. One is Higashi(means "East") Hongwan-ji temple, another is Nishi(means "West") Hongwan-ji temple.
Each is the head temples of the Jōdo-shinshū sect, the Hongwan-ji school divided in two schools of "East" and "West". (both official names of the temples and schools are accurately different, but I omit it and the process of division of this school because this post isn't for it).
Well, what's the Jōdo shinshu?
Japan in the 15 -16th century was in the period of warring state and many samurai lords competed to attain the supremacy of the area they were while sometimes battling sometimes forming an alliance.
On the other side, the "Jodo-shinshu" sect spread so rapidly during this era and one of the brunches in this sect the "Hongwan-ji" school (but in current Japanese it's generally pronounced "Hongan-ji", and they are sometimes called the "Ikkō-shu" sect) began to have a conflict with other sects and samurai lords after organizing society and army by believers in various areas in the process of spreading.
What a trigger such great success of Jodo-shinshu is that a head monk of the Hongwan-ji school (this school was divided in two in the Edo period after ending the warring states) "Rennyo(蓮如:1415-1499)" appeared. He settled down in this Yoshizaki area for about four years after wandering various places because he had been destroyed the headquarters by the Tendai sect. Then in the Yoshizaki area he succeeded in obtaining many believers and expanding the power of the sect, then later beyond this area to wide areas in Japan.
Yoshizaki Gobou("gobou" means like "residence for living a high rank monk) is its site Rennyo settled down. So it can be said this site is one of the important historical spots being a cornerstone to the Jodo-shinshū sect.
What's worthy of a special mention is that a society of this sect organized by believers established an independent domain in Kaga province (current the south area of Ishikawa prefecture) after destroying the samurai lord ruling the area in 1488 (but the Yoshizaki area wasn't included in this domain).
It's written on a historical document "a province common people hold（百姓ノ持チタル国）" and it was maintained about one handed years till 1582 destroyed by Oda Nobunaga. It's an unprecedented case in the Japanese history. By the way, now Kanazawa city in Ishikawa prefecture which it's well known as sightseeing spot not only among the Japanese but also seemingly international people who are interested in Japan was originally the headquarters of this independent domain of the Jōdo shinshū sect.
One more there is worthy of a special mention about the Jōdo shinshū sect, it's thought the samurai castle in Japan that most of us imagine are made with reference to "Jinaimachi(寺内町)" that living areas of believers centered a temple and surrounded with earthworks and moats were made by the Jōdo-shinshū established.
And the environment of Yoshizaki Gonou is surrounded by the sea and located in the high ground, and it's thought that it was made earthworks around once. This area is easy to repel invaders and hard to be conquered. Please refer the following images↓
It's thought this composition in Yoshizaki Gobou gave a hint to establishing Jinaimachi later.
Even now, the Jōdo-shinshū keep the power in Fukui and Ishikawa prefectures, Buddhist temples in these prefectures seem to be occupied over 70 ％ by ones belonging to the Hongwan-ji schools(both East and West). So these areas is sometimes called "the Shinshū Kingdom". By the way, Suzuki Daisetsu(1870 - 1966) who introduced the Zen Buddhism to the West is from Kanazawa city that is a center of the Shinshū Kingdom.
Fukui, Ishikawa prefectures are included in the large area name "Hokuriku".(with Toyama prefecture) And I think Fukui and Ishikawa have historical stories(layers) bellow.
1.An area produced some unique cultures under the control of famous samurai lords in the Edo era.
2. A faith area of a mountain worship toward Mt.Hakusan(it's called "one of the big three sacred mountains in Japan") that had been flourishing in the medieval times
3.The Shinshū Kingdom after the mid of 15th century
If you visit these areas(especially Kanazawa city) you will face an environment as sightseeing spot emphasized an aspect of "1". But I think what the core aspects as historical areas are "2" and "3", and the history of conflicts between "2" and "3". (It can be seen a composition like Jinaimachi also in a ruin of the faith toward Mt.Hakusan.)
A new expanded route of a Shinkansen line running this area began to go into service this spring, so it gets to be more easy to visit with it from Tokyo.
↑The site of the main hall
↑The rock that it's handed down Rennyo sit down on
↑A reserved tree of pine that it's handed down Rennyo planted
