Sunday, December 1, 2024

Rokujogawara


 One of the spookiest pictures or place I visited last month was Rokujogawara, the old execution ground located in Kyoto near the Kamo River. Not far from Gojo Bashi (Gojo Bridge), many people met their end here. A passage from The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga describes Matsunaga Hisahide's grandchildren being put to death at the Rokujogawara in Kyoto. The two boys were Matsunaga Hisamichi's sons. The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (p. 270)

"The two children were put onto a cart at the Ichijo Crossroads in Upper Kyoto and transported to the at Rokujo, where town and country, noble and mean alike flocked together to witness their execution. Totally undisturbed, as calm at their hour of death as any grown-up, their gaze fixed toward the west, the boys were put to death, holding each other's  small hands and invoking Amida Buddha in a loud voice. Those who saw it were dumbstruck; those who heard about it were unable to hold back their tears. It was such a pitiful sight that one could not bear to look at it."


Nobunaga no tame!

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