Owl Neck

Japanese: 梟首 - きょうしゅ

A punishment carried out from ancient times to the early modern period in which the decapitated head of a criminal was displayed in public. It is also called "sarashi-kubi" (displaying head). In the "Nihon Shoki" (Chronicles of Japan), Emperor Sushun's pre-reign record, it is written that the body of the rebel general Totoribe no Yorozu was cut into eight pieces and "scattered" to eight provinces. However, the law only provides for two types of capital punishment: hanging and beheading, and there is no provision for beheading. The first beheading was in Kyoto in 940, when Taira no Masakado's head was beheaded. Since then, it has been carried out as a punishment for serious crimes such as ringleaders of rebellions and robbers in Kyoto. It became customary to parade the criminal's head around Kyoto on a pole and then hang it on a bamboo tree at the execution gate, and from this, the term "execution gate" came to be used in the Kamakura period. It was used as a capital punishment during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, but after the Sengoku period it became a common punishment second only to crucifixion and burning at the stake. It was inherited by the new Meiji government and abolished in 1879.
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Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

古代から近代初頭まで行われた，犯人の斬首を公衆の前にさらす刑罰。〈さらし首〉ともいう。《日本書紀》崇峻(すしゅん)天皇即位前紀には，叛将捕鳥部万(ととりべのよろず)の死骸が８段に斬られて８ヵ国に〈散梟(ちらしくしさす)〉されたことが記される。だが律では死刑は絞刑・斬刑の２種で，梟首の規定はない。940年平将門の首が京において梟されたのが最初とされ，以後，反乱の首謀者や京中の強盗などの重罪犯の刑として執行された。罪人の首を鋒に差して京中を巡ったのち，獄門(ごくもん)の樗(おうち)の木に架けるのが通例となり，ここから鎌倉時代には梟首を獄門ともよぶようになった。鎌倉・室町時代には極刑として用いられたが，戦国時代以降は磔(はりつけ)・火刑などに次ぐものとなった。明治新政府にも継承され，1879年廃止された。
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