The Yokobue-an Hermitage

The Yokobue-an is just off the path to the Tokei-ji Sanctum and is surrounded by a thick growth of miscanthus. A stone image of Jizo stands nearby. The name of the building, now a tea arbor, derives from an image of Yokobue which once stood within, but is now lost. The origin of this rustic structure is also lost in antiquity.

Yokobue was the heroine of a famous love story, written in the style of ancient tales, which become a best-seller in the Meiji Era. A court lady in the palace of the Empress Kenrei-mon-in, Yokobue became enamored of a samurai.  Because their love was hopeless the samurai became a priest and Yokobue became a priestess, secluding herself in a village hermitage,   where she soon became ill and died. But before her death she became the object of great admiration on the part of the villagers, who thought of her as some heavenly creature of great beauty, and loved to hear the silvery tones of her young sad voice chanting sutras.

50. View of "Yokobue-an"

The Tokei-ji Sanctum

51. "Butsuden" of old "Taokei-ji" Temple

The Tokei-ji Sanctum was brought to Sankei-en from the Tokei-ji, a noted Buddhist temple in Kamakura.  It was a convent of the Rinzai sect, established by Prince Kakuzan-ni, the widow of Tokimune Hojo.  For generations it was the dwelling place of priestesses from illustrious families. The procession of a priestess from this temple took precedence over that of a daimyo.

The temple became a refuge for women who were ill-treated by their husbands, for it became the custom that any such an unfortunate person who entered this convent and practiced austerities for a number of years could thereafter be freed from her marriage contract. The custom continued for several hundred years and was re-inforced as late as the Tokugawa period by Princess Tenshu-ni, the daughter of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. She herself entered at the time, a circumstance which illustrates the great prestige that the temple enjoyed.