The Toba-sukudo (Toba Kaido) stretches south from the ruins of Rajomon Gate in Heian-kyo. It is also famous as the road that was built for the establishment of the Heian Capital. ThisAlong the Toba Highway, there are two love temples that tell sad stories of a man and a woman.One is in Kamitoba.Jozenji TempleAnd the other is in Shimotoba, a little further south.Koizuka TempleThe first is.

At the end of the Heian period (794-1185), Moritono Endo, a samurai from the northern part of Japan, sees a beautiful woman at a bridge memorial service on the Yodo River. Moritono follows the palanquin in which the woman rides and learns that the woman is his aunt's daughter, Kesa. He is surprised to find that the girl he has known since childhood has grown up to be the beautiful wife of Minamoto no Wataru, and at the same time, his love for her grows.

Rather than give up when he finds out that Moriton is married, he threatens his aunt and presses her to meet with Kesa. When Kesa hears from her mother about what happened, she spends the night with Moritono and says, "If you kill your own husband, we can be together. I will make him wash his hair and get him drunk and put him to sleep, so please cut the one with the wet hair.

On the appointed night, Moriton sneaks into Kesa's house, grabs the wet hair of a man sleeping in a room shrouded in darkness, slashes him with a single sword, and returns home without a care in the world. The next day, however,Kesa was killed, not Gendo.And listen,I looked up and checked last night's head and saw that it was the head of the woman I loved that I had slain.

Kokin Meibuden Kesa Gozen," which conveys the appearance of Kesa, in the collection of the Digital Collections of the National Diet Library.

Moritono asked Kesa's husband to identify himself as the underling and ask him to cut him down, but he was told that Kesa would not return if he did so,He renounces the mundane world and chooses the path of ordination.This is what this Sheng Yuan is all about,The monk Bunkaku Shonin, known as the "Arahoshi" or "Monk".That was the man.Bunkaku showed the skull of his father Yoshitomo to Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate, and urged him to defeat the Heike clanIt is considered to be a good thing. Without him,Yoritomo did not raise an army.Yoritomo's trust in him was so strong that it is said that he was even

Shu ko jisshu. Portrait of Bunkaku Shonin (Collection of the Digital Collections of the National Diet Library)

Located in Kamitoba on Toba Sakudo Road.Jozenji Temple" is one of the six Jizo statues in KyotoIn,Erected by Bunkaku to mourn the loss of Kesa.The temple is also known as "Koi-zuka" (mound of love). The shrine is also known as Koi-zuka (mound of love) because of the memorial tower that stands in the precincts of the shrine. One theory is that the mound was once the site of a mound where a carp monster in a nearby pond had been exterminated,Koizuka = love moundHe also said that it became

Jozenji Temple in Kamitoba, one of the six Jizo statues.

Stone monument of Koizuka Jozenji standing in front of the gate

From this temple, down the Toba-kaido road, there is another one in Shimotoba.Koizuka TempleThere is.The shingled roof is eye-catching.This temple is also,Erected by Bunkaku to mourn the loss of KesaWooden statues of Kesa, Moriton, and Gento are enshrined.

Another Koizuka Temple in Shimotoba

Although Bungaku Shonin is also known as the person who rebuilt Jingo-ji Temple in Takao, he did not become a ...... who continued his training in later life due to his remorse for his sin against Kesa, which was said to be a mirror of chaste women.

He remained ambitious even after the death of Yoritomo, and his bold character, so much so that he was called a "monstrous monk," led him to be exiled for treason against the Emperor Go-Toba, and he lost his life on the way.It seems that his rebellion was motivated by his criticism of the emperor, who was indulging in amusement, so one can imagine that he was honest and passionate not only in love but also in everything.
　
The sad story of Bunkaku (Moriton) and Kesa, which remains in the two temples built on Toba Sakudo, was later depicted in a novel by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and the movie "Jigokumon" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and became widely known throughout the world.

(Reference: "Legend of Kyoto: Legend of Japan 1" by Toshiro Koma and Masafumi Nakagawa, Kadokawa Shoten)