The Head Mound in Tokyo's Financial District
Among the skyscrapers of central Tokyo is a small shrine to a rebel warrior's head. Every attempt to move it, people say, has brought disaster.
What was reported
Taira no Masakado was a 10th-century warlord who rebelled against the imperial court and declared himself a new emperor in eastern Japan. He was killed in battle in 940, and his head was taken to Kyoto for display. Legend says it flew back east, landing in a village that is now part of Tokyo, where a mound was raised over it.
That mound, the Kubizuka, still stands in Ōtemachi, one of the city's financial districts, surrounded by office towers. When the Ministry of Finance built over it in the 1920s, a run of deaths and illnesses among officials was blamed on it. After the Second World War, an attempt to clear the site was abandoned after a vehicle overturned there.
Explanations offered
The 'curse' stories grew from coincidences remembered and retold. But they are taken seriously: the shrine has been kept through every redevelopment, offices nearby are said to avoid placing desks with their backs to it, and workers still leave offerings, especially frogs, a pun on 'return'.
- When
- Since the 10th century
- Where
- Ōtemachi, Tokyo, Japan
- Witnesses
- Tokyo office workers and visitors
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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