Kubizuka


Kubizuka is a type of burial mound in Japan, in which severed heads are interred. The heads were often those taken as trophies following a battle or in some cases, the kubizuka holds the heads of those who were executed by decapitation, whether prisoners of war or convicted criminals who were sentenced to death. The dedicated grave is meant to put the souls to rest.
In Japanese history, battles were often followed by a head-viewing ceremony, in which warriors presented the head of opponents they had killed in combat to their commander. The head of the deceased warrior was identified, and a record was kept of who had killed whom. To console the souls of the defeated, many kubizuka were built.
There are kubizuka enshrining a single person, so they do not become a vengeful onryō later, and kubizuka enshrining many soldiers killed in one battle, such as the grave associated with the Battle of Sekigahara. A great number of both types of kubizuka still exist throughout Japan.

Related subjects

Mimizuka is a tomb where the noses of the killed Korean and Chinese soldiers and civilians in the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) were gathered and buried as the substitute of heads, because it was impossible to bring back the severed heads from overseas; it has the same symbolic meaning as kubizuka. It is located near the front of present-day Toyokuni Shrine (Kyoto), and originally was in front of the gate of Hoko-ji Temple in Higashiyama Ward in Kyoto.

Kubizuka across Japan