Kozukahara - Kozukahara

A place name located in Minamisenju, southeast of Arakawa Ward, Tokyo. Within the grounds of Asuka Myojin Shrine, the guardian deity of this area, there is a mound in which a stone that emitted auspicious light was buried, called Kozuka, from which the place name originated. It was also written as Koiwahara or Furuzukahara. Along with Suzugamori on the Tokaido, it was one of the two major execution grounds in Edo, where approximately 200,000 people were executed until it was abolished in the early Meiji period. Ekoin Temple, where the souls of those executed are enshrined, was built in 1667 (Kanbun 7) as a branch temple of Ekoin Temple in Ryogoku. Within the temple grounds is a monument commemorating the day in 1771 (Meiwa 8) when the Dutch physician Maeno Ryotaku and others attended the dissection of an executed person, translating and publishing "Kaitai Shinsho" (New Book of Anatomy). Nearby is the Neck-cutting Jizo (Enmei Jizo), a vestige of the execution grounds. Currently, Ekoin Temple is in Minamisenju 5-chome, and the site of the Kozukahara execution grounds extends south to Minamisenju 2-chome.

[Kiyoshi Sawada]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

東京都荒川区南東部、南千住(みなみせんじゅ)にあった地名。この地の鎮守の飛鳥(あすか)明神社境内に瑞光(ずいこう)を発した石を埋めた塚があり、これを小塚といい、それが地名の由来で、小岩原、古塚原とも記した。東海道の鈴ヶ森とともに、江戸の二大仕置場(しおきば)（刑場）の一つが置かれ、明治初年の廃止まで約20万人が処刑されたという。その霊を回向(えこう)する回向院が1667年（寛文7）両国回向院の別院として建てられた。境内に1771年（明和8）蘭方医(らんぽうい)前野良沢(りょうたく)らが刑場の刑死者の腑分(ふわけ)（解剖）に立ち会い、それを機に『解体新書』を翻訳、出版したことを記念した観臓(かんぞう)記念碑、また近くに刑場の名残(なごり)を示す首切り地蔵（延命(えんめい)地蔵）がある。なお、現在回向院は南千住5丁目、小塚原刑場跡は南方の南千住2丁目まで拡がる。

［沢田　清］

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