LITMIR.BIZ

      Claim To Fame

      One of Tokyo’s most famous ghosts is that of a man many consider to be Japan’s very first samurai. Decapitated on the battlefield, his disembodied head refused to die and took on a life of its own — something like a reverse Headless Horseman. In a testament to the power his name still holds over people, Masakado’s shrine occupies some of the choicest real estate in the city today, surrounded by gleaming modern skyscrapers a five-minute walk from the Imperial Palace. Even now, none dare attempt to reclaim this land from Masakado. He is the prototypical onryo — angry spirit.

      The Story

      A minor but successful warlord, Masakado’s ambitions put him at odds with the Imperial government of Kyoto. Establishing an independent kingdom in the Kanto region, he proclaimed himself the “new Emperor of all Japan.” In response, the existing government — run, of course, by the “old” Emperor, who was none too thrilled by the prospect of sharing power — quickly placed a bounty on the warrior’s head.

      Within two months Masakado was dead, felled by an arrow between the eyes during a ferocious battle. The emperor’s men decapitated the corpse and carried the head to Kyoto for a public showing.

      Infuriated at the insult of being removed from its body, Masakado’s head took to the skies over Kyoto and returned to the Kanto region in a frantic quest for its missing body. Desperate to make itself whole and fight another day, the head of the Japanese samurai searched far and wide to no avail.

      Finally spent from the fruitless effort, the severed head crashed from the sky over a tiny fishing village called Edo (which would centuries later grow into the metropolis of Tokyo). It came to rest on a plot of land known forever after as Masakado no Kubizuka (The Hill of Masakado’s Head). Terrified villagers washed the head, buried it and erected a memorial stone to appease its fury. Generations thereafter tended to it as a symbol of anti-authoritarian power.

      The Attack

      Over the centuries, a great many calamities have been ascribed to Masakado’s influence. Some of the most recent make up a “greatest hits” list of sorts.

      When the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 destroyed much of the city, Tokyo’s Ministry of Finance took the opportunity to level the Hill of Masakado’s Head, filling in the pond where the Japanese samurai’s head was supposedly washed and erecting a temporary office building on the spot. Within two years some 14 employees had died, felled by accidents, illnesses, and other misfortunes — including the Minister of Finance himself. In the meantime, a spate of inexplicable injuries broke out among the other employees, many to the feet and legs. Mounting fear of treading upon the cursed ground led officials to raze the building and rebuild the hill after holding a Shinto ritual to soothe the angry spirit. Thereafter, the government held a small service in its honor every year, until the outbreak of World War II, which drew the government’s attention to other things, and the ceremonies eventually lapsed.

      In 1940, the thousand-year anniversary of the warlord’s death, lightning struck the Ministry of Finance, touching off a fire that destroyed much of the structure adjacent to Masakado’s hill. In response, the latest Minister of Finance (undoubtedly moved by the fate of his predecessor) sponsored an extravagant ceremony to appease Masakado’s angry soul once again, erecting a stone memorial that stands on the site to this very day.

      But the story doesn’t end there. When the American forces took control of Japan after the war, they tried to raze the shrine to build a motor pool for military vehicles. During construction, a bulldozer inexplicably flipped over, killing the driver. A string of other accidents combined with pleas from local officials convinced the Americans to cancel the project, and Masakado once again enjoyed peace and quiet, and still does today.

      Surviving an Encounter

      Masakado may be as potent a force today as he was on the battlefield a thousand years ago, but one thing is for sure: like a true samurai, he never launches an unprovoked attack. His fury is inevitably focused upon those who fail to pay proper respect to his final resting place. Bottom line: think twice before attempting to drive a bulldozer over it.

      Perhaps because of his penchant for only lashing out at those who strike against his resting place, Masakado’s presence certainly isn’t viewed as a negative by locals. He is seen as a guardian of Tokyo — someone who might return one day to protect the city in times of danger.

      All in the Family

      Understandably upset, Masakado’s daughter, the Princess Takiyasha, visited Kifune Shrine to place a curse upon those who had killed her father. The request was apparently a success, for one of Japan’s most famous woodblock prints depicts her conjuring forth the skeletal yokai known as O-dokuro to terrorize the man responsible for her father’s death. (For more about curses, see p.140).

      The skeleton conjoured up by Princess Takiyasha— Utagawa Kuniyoshi, (1798 - 1861)

      Heading Home

      With all of this talk about his head, whatever happened to Masakado’s body? According to one legend, it went running around to look for its head!

      Supposedly it ended up collapsing at the site of what is now Kanda Myojin Shrine, located in the Otemachi section of Tokyo. Every May, the Kanda-Myojin Matsuri festival is held in his honor. So if you’d like to make the acquaintance of Japan's first samurai, feel free to drop by!

      Trivia

      • It’s a common misconception that all of the desks in the surrounding skyscrapers are arranged to face Masakado’s shrine. While the burial plot is meticulously maintained, outside of its borders Tokyoites go about their daily business as usual.

      • Lone among the ghosts profiled in this book, Taira no Masakado actually has his own bank account. Opened at the nearby Mitsubishi Tokyo UFJ Bank, it’s used by the volunteer organization that maintains the shrine.

      LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

      Masakado’s head turns out to have been quite a shrewd real estate speculator. In a 1970 article, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper estimated the value of the plot of land upon which Masakado’s grave sits at just under two hundred million yen, which is close to $2.5 million American dollars at the 2011 exchange rate. It hasn’t been officially appraised in recent years, but given the prices in the surrounding area it must be many, many times that figure today.

      It

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