Tokeiji Temple

This temple is located in Yamanouchi, Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, and is of the Engaku-ji school of the Rinzai sect. It is called Shokozan, Matsugaoka Gosho, and is also commonly called Enkiridera, Kakeyiri, and Kakekomi. The temple's main image is Shaka Nyorai. It was founded by Kakuzan Shido-ni (Kakuzan-ni), the wife of Hojo Tokimune, and her son Hojo Sadatoki established the temple. When Hojo Tokimune died in 1284 (Kōan 7), his wife Choon-inden became a nun and called herself Kakuzan-ni, and founded the temple the following year in 1285. For generations, many of the daughters of the Ashikaga clan became nuns and continued to protect the flame of the law. During the Muromachi period, it was ranked second among the five nunneries of Kamakura, and was a nunnery where men were not allowed until 1902 (Meiji 35). The fifth nunnery, Yodo-ni, was the daughter of Emperor Godaigo, and it is said that it was from this time that the temple was called Matsugaoka Gosho. Kakuzan-ni, in an attempt to help women suffering from illicit husbands, established a temple law for the purpose of automatically divorcing women who fled to the temple once and served there for three years. It is said that her son, Hojo Sadatoki, applied for the law and received imperial permission. The twentieth nunnery, Tenshu-ni, was the daughter of Toyotomi Hideyori, and entered the temple after the fall of Osaka Castle, and is said to have well observed the temple law. In the Edo period, many women from Sagami and all over the Kanto region came to this temple, and many senryu poems were written about it, with lines such as "Crushing the pride of the Matsugaoka man" and "Matsugaoka, which saves all unrelated beings." In the Edo period, the temple had a landholding of 120 kan, more than Kenchoji Temple, and was known as one of the three great temples in Kamakura along with Kenchoji Temple and Engakuji Temple. After the Meiji period, the temple law was abolished, and it was restored by Shaku Soen, the head priest of Engakuji Temple, and became a temple for monks. The temple's treasures include a wooden standing statue of Shokannon, a fire-taking mother with Hatsune makie (lacquer enamel), and a sacred rice cake box with grape makie and mother-of-pearl (raden) (all of which are nationally important cultural properties), as well as documents related to the temple law. Within the temple grounds are the mountain gate, kuri (kitchen quarters), shoin taiheiden (study hall), and Suigetsudo (temple hall), and in the cemetery at the back of the temple grounds are the graves of Yodo-ni, Tenshu-ni, and many other scholars and cultural figures, including Nishida Kitaro, Iwanami Shigeo, Ota Mizuho, ​​Tamura Toshiko, Suzuki Daisetsu, and Watsuji Tetsuro. In the mountain behind the temple is the Matsugaoka Library, founded by Suzuki Daisetsu. The temple is also famous as a flower temple.

[Akira Suganuma]

“Kegomeji Tokeiji History” written by Inoue Zenjo (1980, Shunjusha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

神奈川県鎌倉市山ノ内にある臨済(りんざい)宗円覚(えんがく)寺派の寺。松岡山(しょうこうざん)と号し、松ヶ岡御所(まつがおかごしょ)とも、また俗に縁切寺(えんきりでら)、駆入(かけいり)寺、駆込(かけこみ)寺などともよばれた。本尊は釈迦如来(しゃかにょらい)。開山は北条時宗(ときむね)の夫人覚山志道尼(かくざんしどうに)（覚山尼(かくざんに)）、開基はその子の北条貞時(さだとき)。1284年（弘安7）北条時宗が亡くなると、夫人潮音院殿(ちょうおんいんでん)は落飾して覚山尼と称し、翌85年この寺を開創建した。代々、足利(あしかが)氏出身の息女が多く尼住持となって法燈(ほうとう)を守り続け、室町時代には鎌倉尼五山第二に列し、1902年（明治35）まで男子禁制の尼寺であった。5世の用堂尼(ようどうに)は後醍醐(ごだいご)天皇の息女で、このときから松ヶ岡御所と称されたという。覚山尼は、不法な夫に苦しむ女性を救おうとして、女性が一度この寺に駆け込み3年間寺奉公をすれば自動的に離婚が成立するという縁切寺法を定め、わが子の北条貞時に申請して勅許されたといわれる。20世の天秀尼(てんしゅうに)は豊臣秀頼(とよとみひでより)の息女で、大坂落城ののち当寺に入り、よく寺法を守ったという。江戸時代には相模(さがみ)や関東各地からこの寺に駆け込む女性が多く、「松ヶ岡男の意地をつぶすこと」「縁なき衆生(しゅじょう)を済度(さいど)する松ヶ岡」などと川柳(せんりゅう)に多く詠まれた。江戸時代には寺領120貫で建長寺より多く、鎌倉では建長寺、円覚寺とともに三大寺と称された。明治以後、寺法は廃され、円覚寺管長釈宗演(しゃくそうえん)が中興して僧寺となった。寺宝には、木造聖観音(しょうかんのん)立像、初音蒔絵(はつねまきえ)火取母、葡萄(ぶどう)蒔絵螺鈿(らでん)聖餅箱（以上、国重要文化財）などのほか寺法関係の文書がある。境内には山門、庫裡(くり)、書院泰平殿、水月堂などがあり、境内奥の墓地には、用堂尼・天秀尼などの墓のほか、西田幾多郎(きたろう)、岩波茂雄、太田水穂(みずほ)、田村俊子(としこ)、鈴木大拙(だいせつ)、和辻(わつじ)哲郎など学者・文化人の墓が多い。裏山には鈴木大拙創立の松ヶ岡文庫がある。花の寺としても名高い。

［菅沼　晃］

『井上禅定著『駈込寺東慶寺史』（1980・春秋社）』

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