Suspected of rebellion by the Kamakura Shogunate, the ancestor of the Takeda family committed suicide on Mt. Tenmoku where Seiun-ji Temple is located, and the family was once extinct, but the Muromachi shogunate revived the Takeda family, and after that for the Takeda family, Mt. Tenmoku was recongnized as the place of rebirth, and Seiun-ji Temple became the family temple. Later, after the death of Takeda Shingen, who ruled the province of Kai, his son Katsuyori Takeda was defeated by Oda Nobunaga’s army and headed for Seiun-ji Temple in hopes of being reborn, but committed suicide on the way. Indeed, history repeats itself.
The founder of Seiun-ji Temple trained on Mt. Tenmoku in China, and opened his temple here as a meditation training hall. It is called a rock garden, but the huge rocks that fell down are left in their original forms, and people can meditate on them and become one with nature, gaining an understanding of the truth.
The head of Mt.Fuji can be seen from the temple garden, but if you climb further up the rock garden, you can see Mt. Fuji poking its head out from the gap in the mountains. Even if you meditate on a stone, you can’t help but worry about the state of Mt. Fuji.
In addition, up until then, soba was called “sobagaki” and was eaten in the form of manju, but thiswas also the birthplace of soba, which adopted Chinese culture and began eating it in the form of noodle. I learned this for the first time when I came here. [Link Yamagata]
The time I visited was during the annual Treasure Window Exhibition held in early November. One of the treasures was a original military flag of the Takeda army written as “Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan.” (>>For meaning, read this post)
In the event, I was also treated to matcha tea with a sweet named as a moon hidden by cloud and autumn soba noodles.
