World and Lore / Kyoto mystery

A Riverside Tragedy

The riverbank west of Sanjo-ohashi Bridge was once reserved for the execution of criminals and the exhibition of their severed heads. One particularly tragic execution that took place on this grim site was the mass killing of some forty women and children. The incident arose from a dispute over who would succeed the supreme ruler of Japan. This ruler, who was entering old age without an heir, had decided to appoint his nephew as his successor. But as fortune should have it, a son was born to him soon after, and, driven by covetousness and ambition, this ruler turned against the nephew to whom he had bequeathed his power. Many theories have been put forth on what really transpired. Suffice to say that this nephew was ordered to commit the ritual act of self-disembowelment, seppuku. Following this, all of the man's wives and children were taken to the riverside and beheaded. It was a most ghastly scene, and one which sorely grieved the citizenry of the capital.