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The story
A male livestreamer broadcast himself climbing onto and hugging the burial mound enshrining the head of Taira no Masakado (Masakado-zuka) in Otemachi, Tokyo, and was forced to apologize after facing backlash.
On 5ch, the discussion ranged from whether the curse is real, to observations that earthquake epicenters overlap with Masakado’s former territory, to other famous vengeful-spirit legends like Sugawara no Michizane and Emperor Sutoku.
At Masakado-zuka in Otemachi, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo — a site dedicated to the head of Heian-era warlord Taira no Masakado (903-940) — a male video streamer climbed onto the stone monument and later apologized on social media after facing criticism. Masakado-zuka is designated a historic site by the Tokyo metropolitan government, and because of its “vengeful spirit” legend, disrespectful behavior there has long been avoided.
On the 19th, the man livestreamed himself on the streaming platform Kick, climbing onto and hugging Taira no Masakado’s stone monument while making strange noises. His actions could potentially constitute trespassing on a structure or desecration of a place of worship; a representative of the Historic Masakado-zuka Preservation Society, which manages the site, said, “We have already consulted with the Marunouchi Police Station.”
Taira no Masakado declared himself “Shinno” (New Emperor) independently in the Kanto region, becoming an enemy of the imperial court under Emperor Suzaku, and was ultimately killed by Fujiwara no Hidesato and Taira no Sadamori. Because his death was said to be against his will, and because his head was put on display in Kyoto, various legends arose. According to one legend, his head flew back toward his homeland and fell in what is now Otemachi — and enshrining it there is said to be the origin of Masakado-zuka.
Source: sankei.com / Original article here
What people said
That earthquake the other day was just a warm-up greeting
It'd be wild if this turns out to be the flag for the Great Kanto Earthquake or the Nankai Trough megaquake
True, the epicenter really does line up with Masakado's old territory.
There's no real "wronged/betrayed, tragic death" backstory — he just died in battle like anyone else
That site was originally an ancient burial mound predating even Masakado's era
So even though everyone keeps saying "Masakado, Masakado," it's really the dwelling place of something else — something more sinister
A burial mound of a clan that predates the Yamato people
Maybe there's a legend that Lord Masakado is holding something else down?
See Re: #265
Probably what's actually angry is the ancient people who were wiped out by the Yamato
Just pave over old graves already, they're a waste of land
Fair point
It's smack in the middle of the city, it really is nothing but wasted space
You're gonna get cursed, buddy
Idiot! Don't say that!
But even you wouldn't piss on a torii gate, would you?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HQJcyXbboAARLK1.jpg
Is it any good?
It's surprising how packed it is with gorgeous men and women
Go Kato, Takashi Yamaguchi, and Masao Kusakari
There's no one that handsome in the Reiwa era
And the actresses — Sayuri Yoshinaga and Yumi Takigawa are unbelievably beautiful
Kiwako Taichi is incredibly sexy too
Re: #290
Zundoko-beroncho (a nonsense chant/meme phrase)
For some reason, Ken Ogata's performance as Fujiwara no Sumitomo really stuck with me
Oh yeah, I remember that guy
If it was years later, it's probably unrelated
Even trying to put up a fence is supposedly cursed, so nothing can be done
That's because he was originally Kanto's guardian deity
If you don't anger him, he'll protect Kanto
It's not fair
Emperor Sutoku is way scarier than that
Well, there's also Lord Sugawara no Michizane, whose grudge was so intense he ended up worshipped as a god…
Huh, they still do that today
That's pretty diligent of them
Wasn't it that they skipped it once, made [Shin Megami Tensei] IV, and then went bankrupt?
They're under Sega now, but it seemed rough back then
I wished misfortune on a neighbor I hate, and over the past two years, two people and one pet have died
I mean, radio waves are invisible too, and they still get transmitted 📡
Curse someone and you dig two graves
Better be careful
Background and Key Points
The site at the center of this story, Masakado-zuka in Otemachi, sits in the middle of Tokyo’s most valuable real estate — the financial district a few minutes from the Imperial Palace and the National Tax Agency headquarters, ringed by bank towers and brokerages. Taira no Masakado was a 10th-century Kanto warlord who rebelled against the Heian court, declared himself “New Emperor,” and was killed in battle in 940; his head was displayed in Kyoto but, per legend, flew home and landed where the mound now stands. That backstory matters for non-Japanese readers because it plugs into a specific religious category, onryo (vengeful spirit) worship, the same tradition that turned Sugawara no Michizane and Emperor Sutoku, both mentioned in the thread, into deities after wrongful deaths. Tokyo still treats the mound as a protected historic site precisely because of that tradition, which is why climbing it triggered a police consultation over trespassing and desecration, not just etiquette.
The thread’s real fault line wasn’t believers versus skeptics so much as a dispute over what the mound actually is: several posters argued no head or body is buried there at all, and that the earthwork predates Masakado, making the “curse” possibly older and unrelated to him specifically. That claim went unresolved and unverified in the thread itself.
What outside readers likely miss is scale: this isn’t a rural shrine but a fenced mound worth, by location alone, an enormous fortune, which is exactly why postwar redevelopment pressure on it has repeatedly stalled — a fact the thread only gestures at through jokes about “wasted land.”
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (News Speed+) thread: “[Topic] Man live-streams himself climbing Masakado-zuka, apologizes — a site people have long avoided disrespecting… even the National Tax Agency’s website mentions “rumors of a curse”“
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