Mar 18, 2013 - 1 min read

Kamakura-gu Shrine

Tragic Imperial Prince, Morinaga

By Tomoko Kamishima

Community writer

The simple wooden statue was a symbol of a samurai who sacrificed himself for the prince

The samurai statue up close. Roughly hewn, yet covered in amazing detail

Red wooden statue of a lion's head; this is a talisman against evil spirit

Kamakura-gu was established in 1869, only about 150 years ago. The Imperial Prince Morinaga fought against the Kamakura Shogunate, in cooperation with prominent samurai, and the Ashikaga clans. But in 1335, he was killed in the confusion of the revolution. After the Edo period, the Meiji Emperor was reinstated, and he built this shrine for tragic prince, Morinaga. The shrine offers two types of talisman against evil: A red wooden statue of a lion's head, and a simple white samurai statue.

More info

Find out more about Kamakuragu Shrine.

Was this article helpful?

Help us improve the site

Give Feedback

By Tomoko Kamishima

Community writer

Following Follow

Jesreve Edward 3 years ago

Morinaga: "My only regret is that I am to be executed by a little girl." Fuchinobe yelled out in a white hot rage and brought the sword down in a powerful arc... What a great short story found in " Kamakura Hauntings " book detailing Morinagas death.

Gary Luscombe 3 years ago

The stories from the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate and Nanboku-cho civil war are all quite poetic. I think they were still borrowing heavily from Chinese stories though, much as they did with the Kojiki and Nihon-Shoki. There are at least a couple of tales lifted directly from Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

2 comments in total