During the fall foliage season, I often visited Jikishi-an in Oku-Sagano, Kyoto.  Jikishi-an is located far at Daikakuji Temple, where the Northern Court was established during the Nanbokucho period, and a 15-minute walk further back.  Even in Sagano, which is popular with women, it is as popular as Giouji.  There are more than 5,000 “memorial notes ” written by people from all over the country, most of which are written by women.  Therefore, some people think that Jikishi-an is a nunnery  temple.  Jikishi-an was founded as the Zen temple of the Rinzai sect in the early Edo period, and is now a temple of the Jodo sect.  At one time, it was a temple with a grand Buddhist temple, but in the late Edo period it declined to the point where only the founder’s grave remained.  It was rebuilt by Tsuzaki Muraoka Tsubone (real name, Noriko Tsuzaki), an old woman of the duke’s Konoe family, who was also a member of Ansei Purge.  She adopted Atsu-hime for a long time and was rescued by her petition. And it was this temple on the verge of abolition that she chose as the place of demise.  She named it Jikishi-an and devoted herself to raising the children of the land.  It remains closed this year due to the new Corona.

紅葉の時期よく訪れたのは京都奥嵯峨野の直指庵です。南北朝時代に北朝が置かれた大覚寺で写経を終え、そこから更に奥へ15分ほど歩いた所に直指庵があります。女性に人気のある嵯峨野でも、祇王寺と並ぶ人気のお寺です。全国から訪れた人達が綴った「思い出草」は5000冊を超え、その大半は女性が記したものです。それ故に直指庵は尼寺と思っている人もいる程です。直指庵は江戸時代初期に臨済宗の禅寺として創建され、現在は浄土宗のお寺です。一時は大伽藍を持つお寺でしたが、江戸末期には開祖のお墓だけが残る程衰退しました。それを再建したのは、安政の大獄にも連座した「勤王の女傑」、近衛家の老女津崎村岡局(本名、津崎矩子)です。長く篤姫の養女を務め、篤姫の嘆願で命拾いをして終焉の地として選んだのが、廃止寸前のこのお寺でした。直指庵と名付け、土地の子女の薫育に尽くしました。今年は新型コロナの為、閉されたままです。