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Hōjō Masako's grave in a yagura at Jufuku-ji
Hōjō Masako's grave in a yagura at Jufuku-ji


This article is about the yagura, caves used as tombs in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. For the towers, see Yagura (towers).

Yagura (やぐら・窟・岩倉・矢倉・矢蔵・谷倉・屋倉, ecc.?) are caves used during the Middle Ages in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan as tombs for high-ranking samurai personalities and priests[1]. These tombs are extremely numerous in the hills surrounding Kamakura, and estimates of their number are in the thousands[1].

Yagura can be found either isolated, as in the case of the Harakiri Yagura (see below), or in groups sometimes of even well over a hundred caves, as in the case of the Hyakuhachi Yagura (百八やぐら?) group near Kakuon-ji (覚園寺?), which includes 177 separate hand-made caves[2]. The easiest way to see some is to visit Jufuku-ji near Kamakura station: its cemetery has many, including those of Hōjō Masako and Minamoto no Sanetomo[2].

Contents

[edit] Structure of the yagura

A yagura is usually just a hole dug into the side of a hill and begins with a short corridor (sendō (羨道?)) leading to a main room called genshitsu (玄室?)[1]. The main room is usually one to five meters wide and roughly rectangular[1]. Yagura of the Kamakura period have a corridor, however those of the following Muromachi period often do not[3]. In many cases the sendō of a Kamakura period yagura had at its mouth (senmon (羨門?)) a wooden door, whose remains can sometimes still be seen[3]. (See for example the Karaito Yagura (唐糸やぐら?) below.) Sometimes the bones are collected in an opening in the floor, but in other tombs there is instead a funerary urn[1]. In either case, the remains have been cremated, and pulverized bones bearing traces of a cremation are still occasionally found[3]. Holes in the wall to contain funerary urns can be either square or round[3]. Sometimes in them is inscribed the character for day (日) or moon (月)[3]. (For details, see the Jitsugetsu Yagura (日月やぐら?) below).

[edit] Inside a yagura

Gorintō
Gorintō
Stupas of different kinds

Often found in yagura are stone gorintō (see photo above), steles or hōkyōintō, all of which which are always later additions[1]. If there's a statue, it can be a stone Jizobosatsu (地蔵菩薩?) (a (bodhisattva who looks over children, travellers and the underworld)[3]. These objects can be found in tombs of both the Kamakura and the Muromachi periods and were used as funerary objects or for the Buddhist memorial service[3](see photo).

Stone Buddha images
Left as an object of cult. Often the cover the hole where the remains are laid[3].
Carvings
Buddhas, gorintō and other carvings on the walls are often found[3].
Paint
On the ceiling of the Shutarugi Yagura (朱垂木やぐら?) are visible rafters painted in red[3].

[edit] Origins of the yagura

To understand why the yagura burial style emerged it is necessary to take into consideration Kamakura's geography and the demographics during the Kamakura shogunate [3].

Originally, during the Middle Ages Japanese upper classes (the military classes, for example) used for their burials special buildings called Hokkedŏ (法華堂?)[3]. Inside, there would be a statue of Buddha and the place would serve as both temple and tomb[3]. A notorious example is Minamoto no Yoritomo's grave which is supposed to have been a great temple in Nishi Mikado, near Kamakura[3].

However, after Kamakura got an absolute political power after the troubles of the Jōkyŭ era, with the improvement of its economy population grew rapidly, making flat terrain within the city scarce[3]. The hokkedō system became then impractical[3]. One of the factors that made then the idea of the yagura was the softness of the tuff that composes the hills around the city, which made holes easy to dig[1].

In 1242 in Kyushu Õtomo Yoriyasu had already forbidden burials within city limits, and because he used to imitate Bakufu orders, it is believed Hōjō Tokiyori may well by then already have done the same[3]. It's believed that the dispersion of tombs on the hillsides around the town was caused by such an order[3]. It's also believed that the digging of yagura offered a solution to the vulnerability to fires of a wooden hokkedŏ[3].

The tradition of the yagura seems to have declined during the Muromachi period, when storehouses and cemeteries came to be preferred[3].

However, it must be noted that there is no documentary or archeological evidence at all to support the view that the explosive growth of Kamakura's population made burial in town impractical[3]. In fact we know little of how either common people or samurai buried their dead at the time, ansd we are not sure that yagura really were a substitute of graves on flat land[3]. Since no personal objects were left in tombs, we don't usually know the deceased's identity but, since samurai were buried in Buddhist temples, it could also be that yagura were only for Buddhist monks and the like[3].

[edit] Etymology of the name

The word yagura can be written in several ways, among them yagura (やぐら・窟・岩倉・矢倉・矢蔵・谷倉・屋倉, ecc.?) [1]. We do know that in the Edo period the character "窟" was pronounced yagura[1]. It used to be thought also that the term came from ""矢倉", or "weapon deposit"[3]. In either case, now the term is written in hiragana or katakana, without Chinese characters[3].

[edit] Examples of yagura

[edit] Famous yagura in Kamakura

The largest known yagura in Kamakura at Meigetsu-in
The largest known yagura in Kamakura at Meigetsu-in
  • Otō no Kubo- It's one of the yagura supposed to be Hōjō Takatoki's supposed graves[3]
  • Karaito Yagura　- Close to the Shakadō Pass[1]. Because on it are still visible the remains of a wooden door, legend says it was a prison[1].
  • Jitsugetsu Yagura - Also close to the Shakadō Pass[1]. The names come from the two openings in the wall supposedly shaped like the sun and the moon[1].
  • Kubi Yagura　- Behind Zuisen-ji, it's another supposed grave of Hōjō Takatoki[3].
  • Shakadō Yagura Group - It's supposed by tradition to be the burial place for those who died at Tōshō-ji at the fall of the Kamakura shogunate, and a date on a gorintō at the site seems to support the hypothesis[3]. It has been partly destroyed by urban development[3].
  • Shutarugi Yagura　In the mountains near Nishi Mikado[1].
  • Harakiri Yagura - Near the ruins of Tōshō-ji in Komachi 3-chōme[1]. It's supposed to be the place where Hōjō Takatoki killed himself at the fall of the shogunate[1].
  • Tahō-ji-ato Yagura - In the woods near Ōgigayatsu[1]. Nearby there's a huge gorintō called kakukentō (覚賢塔?)[1].
  • Urigayatsu Yagura (東瓜ヶ谷やぐら?) - At the bottom of the Urigayatsu Valley[1].
  • Higashi Sensui Yagura - In the Higashi Sensui valley. Possesses beautiful gorintō reliefs[3].
  • Hyakuhachi Yagura　- Located near Kakuon-ji, it contains 177 yagura[1]. It contains all known types of yagura[1].
  • Jushi Yagura　- In the Nishi Urigayatsu Valley. Contains the reliefs of 14 gorintō.
  • Mandaladō Group - Kamakura period yagura located to the north of the Nagoshi Pass containing 104 graves[4]. It used to be called Sarubatake Yagura|猿畠 but started to be called Mandalado|まんだらどう to distinguish it from Sarubatake Yagura wich is behind Hosshō-ji[4]. The name indicates that in the area there used to be a temple dedicated to memorial services for the dead (a Kuyōdo)[4]. Divided in three groups, it is built in an flat area carved up from an artificial cliff built to defend the Nagoshi Pass[4]. It contains both Kamakura and Muromachi period graves[4].

[edit] Yagura in Other regions

Yagura in Matsuzaki-cho, Kamo-gun, Shizuoka. The Buddhas visible were added in modern times
Yagura in Matsuzaki-cho, Kamo-gun, Shizuoka. The Buddhas visible were added in modern times

Yagura can be found in Hiratsuka, in the Miura Peninsula, in the Izu Peninsula, even in distant Awa[3].

Caves used like yagura would be can be found also in Tohoku ( Sendai and Matsushima's Zuigan-ji), in Hiroshima, around Kyoto, and in Ishikawa Prefecture[3]. These last however are not called yagura and their relationship with them is unknown[3].

[edit] Present condition of the Yagura

Yaguras in general are mostly abandoned and therefore in a bad state of maintenance, even in the case of those that face hiking courses and are therefore easy to see[3]. It can be presumed that those hidden in the woods around Kamakura are in even worse shape[3].

In the past some work was done to excavate yagura, but now most are found during rock consolidation works, or during urban development[3]. Yagura aren't spared the damage due to urban development, and their destruction continues[3].

In Kamakura alone there are several thousand yagura, but only the group of five at Urigayatsu are protected by the city[3].

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Kamakura Official Textbook for Culture and Tourism (鎌倉観光文化検定公式テキストブック?), Kamakura Shunshūsha, 2008 (Japanese)
  2. ^ a b A Guide to Kamakura, Terminology
  3. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named JW
  4. ^ a b c d e Japanese Compendium of History and Geography (日本歴史地名大係 Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei?), online version (Japanese). Heibonsha. Retrieved on 2008-05-20.

[edit] References

This article uses where indicated material from the article "やぐら" of Japanese Wikipedia, whose references follow.

  • Shinjirō Kawano. Kamakura during the Middle Ages: A Warrior City As Seen Through Its Ruins, 20005, Kōdansha Gakujutsu Bunko（河野眞知郎『中世都市 鎌倉:遺跡が語る武士の都』2005年、講談社学術文庫、ISBN 4-06-159713-2), ISBN 4-06-159713-2.

Additional References

[edit] External links

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