The Mound of Masakado's Head, Tokyo

When

since 940 traditional date – cannot be verified · first known record: 1307

Where

Masakado-zuka, Ōtemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan

Verdict

Legend

Among Tokyo's financial-district towers lies the grave of a 10th-century rebel's head. Disturb it and a curse follows – or so people believed well into the 1900s.

What happened

Taira no Masakado, a warrior from eastern Japan, rebelled against the court in Kyoto and proclaimed himself the ‘new emperor’. In 940 he was killed in battle with the forces of Taira no Sadamori and Fujiwara no Hidesato, and his head was taken to the capital and put on display. According to legend the head found no rest and flew back east, falling in the fishing village of Shibasaki, on the site of the later city of Edo, where it was buried. In 1307 the monk Shinkyō erected a memorial stone at the mound, and Masakado's spirit began to be worshipped to forestall his anger; he is still one of the deities of the Kanda Myōjin shrine. In the 20th century the story of a curse grew up. After the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, temporary Ministry of Finance buildings were put up on the site of the mound, and in 1926–1927 several officials died suddenly – the ministry held rites of appeasement and erected a memorial stone. In 1940 lightning started a fire that destroyed the ministry's buildings. After the war, when the American occupation authorities wanted to level the site, a bulldozer accident stopped the work. The mound survived and stands today among the office blocks of Ōtemachi; since its renovation in 2020–2021 only coins may be left as offerings.

Witnesses

Oral tradition of Edo and Tokyo; Ministry of Finance staff in the 1920s; the press (Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, 1940).

Explanations and hypotheses

Masakado's death in 940 is historical fact, but the flight of his head is legend, and even the origin of the mound – possibly an older burial mound – is uncertain. Japanese writers point out that the officials' deaths do not fully match the timing of construction on the mound, and that no link with a curse can be shown; in a large institution several deaths within two years are nothing unusual. The curse story has nonetheless protected the site from development – it is now cared for by a preservation society, and workers from nearby companies come here to pray.

Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.

Sources

More: Wikipedia (en)