Qualla: Hatakeyama Shigeyasu's Grave

Hatakeyama Shigeyasu's Grave: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tarourashima, Public domain. The warrior was gasping for breath when they came for him. Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, eldest son of the renowned general Hatakeyama Shigetada, suffered from asthma, and on June 22, 1205, he was in the grip of an attack when Hojo soldiers surrounded his residence near Yuigahama beach in Kamakura. He fought anyway. By all accounts he fought well. But the outcome was never in doubt -- the men sent to kill him had orders from the shogun himself, and political grudges in Kamakura's warrior government were settled with swords, not words. Shigeyasu died that day, and his father was lured to his own death the very next morning. Eight centuries later, a stone pagoda stands under a tabu no ki tree near the Yuigahama end of Wakamiya Oji Avenue, close to the first torii gate of the great Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine. It is traditionally held to be Shigeyasu's grave, and locals have given it a gentler name: Rokuro-sama, the healer of coughs and colds.

Image: Tarourashima | Public domain

Hatakeyama Shigeyasu's Grave: A Quarrel with the Wrong Family

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tarourashima, Public domain. The politics that killed Hatakeyama Shigeyasu were tangled even by the standards of Kamakura-era intrigue. Shigeyasu had quarreled with Hiraga Tomomasa, who happened to be the son-in-law of Hojo Tokimasa -- the most powerful man in Kamakura after the shogun. Tomomasa nursed the g...

Image: Tarourashima | Public domain

Hatakeyama Shigeyasu's Grave: The Stone That Heals

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tarourashima, Public domain. The hokyointo that marks Shigeyasu's traditional burial site is no ordinary grave marker. Standing 3.45 meters tall and carved from andesite, it is designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan and is considered one of the finest examples of the hokyointo form -- a type of s...

Image: Tarourashima | Public domain

Hatakeyama Shigeyasu's Grave: Rokuro-sama's Remedy

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tarourashima, Public domain. Of all the ways a medieval warrior might be remembered, being transformed into a folk cure for the common cold is among the more unexpected. But that is precisely what happened to Shigeyasu. Because he suffered from asthma and was reportedly in the throes of an attack when he was...

Image: Tarourashima | Public domain

Hatakeyama Shigeyasu's Grave: Kamakura's Layered Ground

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tarourashima, Public domain. The grave stands near the Yuigahama end of Wakamiya Oji, the grand boulevard that runs from the sea straight to the entrance of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu, Kamakura's most important shrine. The first torii gate of the shrine complex rises nearby. This stretch of avenue sits at the sea...

Image: Tarourashima | Public domain