Denzu-In Dentsu-In Tokyo

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Denzuuin 伝通院 Denzu-In, Denzuin - Tokyo
小石川伝通院　Koishikawa Denzu-In, Dentsu-in, Dentsuin
The reading of the Chinese characters differs.



文京区小石川3-14-6 / 3 Chome-14-6 Koishikawa, Bunkyō ward
Jodo sect of Buddhism 浄土宗

The temple was founded in 1415 by 聖冏上人 Saint Shogei.
The main statue is 無量聖観世音菩薩 Muryo Sho Kannon Bosatsu

The mother of Tokugawa Ieyasu, 於大の方 O-Dai-no-Kata, was buried at this temple in 1602. The Tokugawa clan took care of the tomb and it soon became famous.
The wives and children of other Tokugawa Shoguns are buried here too.
The old wooden buildings burned down in WWII, but the stone tombs are still as they were.



Tombs of the Tokugawa Family

- quote -
The temple Dentsu-in is counted as one of three Shogun family's temples with Zojoji Temple and Kaneiji Temple.
... This temple is known as the place where a radical Samurai team was organized. This group became Shinsengumi, unofficial police in Kyoto at the end of Edo era.
- source : richiefukuda.blogspot.jp -

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shuin　朱印　stamp

- Homepage of the temple
- source : denzuin.or.jp...


. 江戸三十三観音霊場 Pilgrimage to 33 Kannon Temples .
Nr. 12 in the Edo pilgrimage
東京三十三観音霊場　Nr. 25 in the Tokyo pilgrimage

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It looks as impressive as the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris　-
said the novelist Nagai Kafu (1879 - 1959, who was born in the Koishikawa district.

Kafu has written about Haien no seirei: "Kitsune" (The Fox)
His father had seen a strange monk with a tail (in fact the fox Takuzosu) walking in the area in plain afternoon.
The more tails an Inari messenger fox has, the more powerful it will be.
- See below for the fox legends of old.


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Yūten 祐天 Yuten Shami, 祐天上人 Saint Yuten Shonin
..... Yuten came to be patronized by Keisho-in, the mother of the fifth Tokugawa shogun Tsunayoshi, who is said to have called on him in his hermit's hut on the outskirts of Edo. In Genroku 12 (1699) he was in unprecedented fashion summoned to Edo castle and promoted from being a lowly wandering monk to the position of head priest of one of the Jodo sect's eighteen major temples in the Kanto area. In samurai terms, his status had become equal to that of a daimyo with a fief of 100,000 koku. The following year he was further promoted by an appointment as head priest to the Iinuma Gukyoji temple in Shimosa, the very temple where he had performed his first famous act of exorcism.
Finally in Hoei 1 (1704), he was placed in charge of Koishikawa Denzuin in Edo, a temple next in standing only to the Zojo ancestral temple at Shiba.
. Saint 祐天上人 Yuten Shonin .


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. Japanese Legends - 伝説　民話　昔話 – ABC-List .


- . Inari 稲荷　the "Fox Deity", "Fox God" .

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Hakuzooshu 伯蔵主 / 白蔵主 / 白蔵王 Hakuzoshu / Hakuzosu

A high priest from Dentsu-In. 覚山上人 Saint Kakusan Shonin, went to Kyoto and and on his way back had a monk named Hakuzo as his companion to teach him on the way. Hakuzo was an excellent student, but once when he had a high fever, he talked in his dream and said he was a fox. Now he is the protector deity of the shrines dedicated to
Hakuzosu Inari 伯蔵主稲荷.



- reference : the Yokai monster Hakuzosu -

. - yookai, yōkai 妖怪 Yokai monsters - ABC-List - .


- Tomioka Tessai (1836–1924)
- source : metmuseum.org/art... -

- quote -
Fox Spirit in the Guise of a Traveling Monk (Hakuzosu)
The vulpine figure dressed as a traveling monk, gazing intently at a nearby trap, is the protagonist of the popular kyōgen play Tsurigitsune (Fox Hunter).
In this comic morality tale, an old fox disguises itself as the monk Hakuzōsu, whose fox-trapper nephew has succeeded in ensnaring most of the fox clan. Recounting a variety of lore about the wily vengeance of the fox, the fox-cum-monk persuades the trapper to give up his trade. This drawing shows the fox prior to heading home, unable to resist the temptation to take the bait from the discarded trap. The trickster ends up caught, to the delight of the chagrined trapper who realizes he has been fooled by a fox in disguise.
- - - The poem on the upper left is by the artist's wife, Haruko:

Hito wo nomi hakaru to omou orokasa ni onore kitsune no wana ni kakareri.

You who seek to deceive
will find yourself
caught in the fox trap
and foolish.

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A similar story is told about the Fox-Priest Takuzo . . .

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Inari Daimyojin 稲荷大明神

Another fox posing for a monk was named 多久蔵主 (たくぞうす) was Takuzosu.
Also spelled 澤蔵主 / 澤蔵司 / 沢蔵
He came to the priest's seminar at Dentsu-In every night and took part in the discussions. He learned all the secret teachings of the Jodo sect within just three years.
In the year 1620, on May 7, the Head Master of the Seminar had a dream vision about Takuzosu:
"I am the Shinto Deity Inari Daimyojin from the Chiyoda castle of Edo. I always wanted to study about the Jodo sect of Buddhism and now finally my wish has come true.
I will now go back to be a Shinto Deity, but will stay on as the protector of your establishment! "
- - - - - And thus he became the 護法神 protector deity of Dentsu-In.



He is venerated at 慈眼院 Jigen-In, 澤蔵司稲荷 Takuzosu Inari
3 Chome-17-12 Koishikawa, Bunkyō ward



- Homepage - takuzousuinari . com -



Detail of 澤蔵司稲荷 Takuzosu Inari
江戸名所図絵 Edo Meisho Zue - modern version


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dainaru hi 大なる燈 The Great Lantern

Around 1720 there was a Kannon temple called 伝通院 Denzu-In. On the 25th day of the first lunar month there appeared a strange light like a lantern above the temple, slowly moving from North to South. It then moved up to the sky and became a star which glowed and sparkled every night. On the 8th day of the third lunar month there was a large fire, covering the area from Ushigome to 千住 Senju.
Later they found the bodies of many people who had died in the garden of this temple.

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keiun 慶雲 auspicious cloud

In the year 1825 on August 15 the author 外岡北海 Sotooka Hokkai walked in the compound of Dentsu-In when he saw an auspicious cloud in five colors cruising over the village. The cloud turned white and colorful again and hang there for a while.
When people asked where it had come from, he could only say they had been there all the while.

goshiki no kumo 五色の雲 clouds of five colors


- reference : denzuin.or.jp-

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mikkazuki shoonin 三ヶ月上人 Saint Mikkazuki

Saint Mikazuki thought the frogs were disturbing the students and ordered the frogs to shut their mouth.
Since then not a frog's voice had been heard in the compound.
This was called musei kaeru 無声蛙 the frogs without a voice.

There is also a book - 伝通院の無声蛙 - by 加瀬順一 Kase Junichi

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nezumi 鼠 the rat

A monk from Denzu-In had killed a rat at four in the afternoon, when he was still in his youth. Just before dying the rat had bitten his finger.
Now every day at six in the afternoon his finger begun to hurt - for the rest of his life!

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Tengu and Fudo 天狗と不動明王

In the temple 伝通院 Denzu-In lived a person named 岱雄 Taio. One day he went out begging with the monks but did not come back. Two days later they found him fainted in the back of the dormitory. When he came back to himself, he told the following story. When he wanted to make an offering, his body suddenly became light and he took off to the sky. Then he went to 成田不動　Narita Fudo to pray, spent some time between the woods talking to some Tengu who wanted to do Sumo wrestling with him. They gave him food and kept him for seven days.
The Tengu had also told him if he wanted to come back to them, he should face East to Narita and think of Fudo Myo-O, then they would come and fetch him again and give his some presents from Narita.

. Legends about Tengu and Fudo Myo-O .

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yuurei 幽霊 ghost

Once there were two men, 久米蔵 Kumezo and 文作 Bunsaku, working for 藤田廉平 Fujita Renbei. One day Renbei said, that Bunsaku became ill and died and had been buried at Dentsu-In.
One month later a woman named 志計 Shige said she had seen Bunsaku in 芳町 Yoshicho village. He had been peddeling material to make barrels. So all thought that it must have been his ghost.
Later they learned that Renbei had made a mistake, and it was Kumezo, who had died!

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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -
- reference : tesshow.jp/bunkyo/temple_koishikawa_dentsuin...





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