There are a lot of issues that continue to cause friction between Korea and Japan – text books with slanted histories, the comfort women and, of course, Dokdo (우리땅). I have always wondered, however, why the Mimizuka Monument never really comes up. For those who are unfamiliar with it — it is the large mound in Kyoto, Japan that is made out of the ears and noses of Koreans slain during the Japanese invasions at the end of the 16th century. No one seems to know just how many Koreans were killed to make this monument but the number ranges from 38,000 — to roughly 165,000 (I believe that is the number William Griffis gives not including the 20-30,000 Chinese soldiers’ ears and noses). Why would the Japanese take the ears and noses from their victims? Because the heads were too big and bulky — and they needed to have proof (much like scalps were in the Wild West of the United States) of the number of kills. Apparently some of the Samurai cheated and didn’t kill their victim before cutting the trophies off — leaving badly mutilated Koreans who survived for several years physically marred without ears or noses.
Tadashi Takahashi of the Nippon Christian Academy Kansai Seminar House said “the reason that the grave was called ‘ear grave’ though there were more noses than ears is the good proof of Japanese government’s cunning strategy since the image of cutting off one’s nose was much more cruel or inhumane than the image of cutting off ears.” He also claims that the Japanese Government in the early 20th century tried to portray ‘Mimi-zuka’ as a symbol of Hideyoshi’s mercy for mourning the souls of the Koreans but he dismisses this as government propaganda trying to create Hideyoshi into a merciful hero.
According to this New York Times article: ”[S]ome Japanese argue that Koreans and Chinese have vastly exaggerated the scale of the suffering and that in any case atrocities are simply an unfortunate part of any war.” At one time there was a plaque in front of the ear mound that read: ”One cannot say that cutting off ears or noses was so atrocious by the standard of the time.”
The article goes on to explain that Koreans have different views on what should be done with the mound:
“When Park Chung Hee was dictator of South Korea in the 1970′s, some of his officials urged that the Ear Mound be leveled because it was shameful for Koreans. Other Koreans have suggested that the mound be relocated to Korea to appease the spirits of the dead. But most say that the mound should stay in Japan as a reminder of past savagery, and in any case Japan treats the Ear Mound as a national landmark and would be unwilling to return it.”
Apparently another mound/tomb was discovered in 1983 near Osaka containing the pickled noses of some 20,000 Koreans — these noses were eventually returned to Korea where they were cremated. Will this eventually happen to Mimizuka?
Here is a Korean link to an article dealing with the elderly caretaker of Mimizuka.
The photos are from Donga News and Wikipedia which used Nils Ferry’s picture from planetkyoto.com.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
First!
Homer: Thanks for giving me my job back, Mr. Burns.
Mr. Burns: I’m afraid it’s not that simple. As punishment for your desertion, it’s company policy to give you the plague.
Smithers: Uh, sir, that’s the “plaque.”
Thanks thekorean it is corrected now but I blame it on the early morning, my lack of sleep, my lack of proper education, my numb fingers from the bone-chilling cold temperature in my PC room, my parents for not proof-reading my homework when I was a child, and the fact that I am spelling-challenged.
You’ll also want to correct:
“. . . Koreans who survived for severals years . . .”
That should read “several years.”
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I give up – I am going to bed…….
Neff,
Pay no attention to these spelling and pronunciation attention whores and nazis! I know I don’t…
No worries, Mr. Neff. Your posts are consistently top-notch, and I am just as guilty on those small things on AAK! At least you got it faster than Elgin.
At the cost of being naive i’ll say i wish Japan would snap out of this insanity and drop any ambiguity when it comes to their WW-2 inhuman atrocities…they would find out the world would be really impressed and ready to finally move on for good
I actually went a bit out of my way to visit this mound in Kyoto a few years back. It’s in a very quiet neighborhood with some old retail and residences around it. I think I remember the back of the tomb being connected to somebody’s house or some type of residence. You will occasionally see some Korean tourists stopping by in a taxi to pay tribute. I personally made my Japanese ex-gf go there with me. I don’t think it gets much visitors though. I personally think they should keep it in Kyoto….I mean, how are you going to transport a hill of decayed body parts anyways without messing it all up? Just keep it there as a reminder. The souls of those dead should be at peace by now. If they aren’t at peace, let them roam around Japan and spook the descendents of their killers.
Personally? Wow, that was so courageous! Did it make you feel all manly mannish?
#10
I’m inclined to think that making a girl go to a mound filled with 400 year old pickled noses and ears is not likely to get me laid either. Maybe that’s why she an ex.
Imagine if the Jews had a hill somewhere made out of infidel foreskins.
For twelve years, in the 80s and 90s, I lived just up the street from the Mimizuka in Kyoto and used to walk past it several times a week, always pausing for a brief respectful bow. While the locals in the neighborhood of course were aware of its presence and its history, as ‘lastnamekim’ says, it’s a very quiet older neighborhood, and I doubt that many people in other parts of Kyoto are very aware of its presence (just my impression after 16 years’ residence, not based on any survey material), and even fewer Japanese outside Kyoto know about it. Even if they did, I doubt you’d get anyone in modern Japan to feel ‘responsible’ for what Hideyoshi’s minions did in the 16th century.
‘Personally? Wow, that was so courageous! Did it make you feel all manly mannish? ‘ sperwer
well, at least he didn’t show us pictures of his naked torso. just saw those today. disgusting. you’re an old man. act your age.
‘Even if they did, I doubt you’d get anyone in modern Japan to feel ‘responsible’ for what Hideyoshi’s minions did in the 16th century. ‘
no japanese is responsible for what hideyoshi did. it’s nice to see the japanese promote the idea that it’s a shrine to honor the korean dead. sure wish they could make a shrine honoring koreans that doesn’t contain the noses and ears of koreans or the ashes of class a war criminals. do ya think they could ever construct such a shrine? japan is w/o remorse or shame.
Bad Monkey,
Hehehe… you may be right, for surprising reasons. I will elaborate further in a little bit.
Wow Sperwer, pawi sure gave you an earful.
Aw, he’s just jealous.
Pawi,
Spewer’s glory pics aren’t even 1% as vile as your online persona or your treacherous ethnic nationalism
I wonder what government this author is talking about. That grave has been called ‘ear grave’ since the 17th century. The person who named the grave ‘ear grave’ was a scholar, Hayashi Razan (1583 – 1657). He named it ‘ear grave’ in his book published in 1658. After that, the Japanese began to call it ‘ear grave’.
That tomb where noses of 622 Koreans were buried has been known since its construction. I don’t know why the author of the cited article wrote that it was discovered in 1983 and that it contained the pickled noses of ’20,000′ Koreans. Around the date, 1983, a shrine for appeasing the spirits of the victims and a Hideyoshi’s soldier Rokusuke, who buried the noses there to appease the spirits of the victims, was constructed near the tomb by a Rokusuke’s descendant whose ancestors had been serving as grave keepers for the tomb. Perhaps the author confused the construction of the shrine with the discovery of the tomb.
Since the noses were buried under the tomb more than 400 years ago, there is no trace of them there. In 1992, a Buddhist ceremony was held at the tomb for returning the spirits of the victims to Korea. I suppose that hearsay of the ceremony contributed to the creation of the story described in the cited article.
When Hideyoshi invaded Odawara, Japan in 1590, one of my mother’s ancestors was killed by the Hideyoshi’s army, because he was defending the northern gate of the Odawara Castle as one of the commanders. Perhaps his head was brought to the Hideyoshi’s camp after the battle. So I have nothing to say in favor of Hideyoshi. However, after reading this post, I noticed that so many articles on the web concerning Mimizuka are based on hearsay. I can’t help but write an additional comment here.
I wonder where you got the idea that the Mimizuka is a mound made out of ears and noses. It is made out of earth. It is a tomb where ears and noses were buried. The stonework on the mound is the same type of Buddhist stupa as the ones used for tombstones for high-rank people in Japan in those days. You can see Hideyoshi’s tomb below. Notice that the stone stupa on the Hideyoshi’s mound is similar to the one found on the Mimizuka.
http://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/info/education/unnpoko/061012_image5_large.jpg
Constructing tombs for the enemies’ war dead after battles was a rather common practice in Japan. For instance, Kusunoki Masashige built a tomb for the war dead of enemies after the Battle of Chihaya-Akasaka in the early 14th century. You can see the tomb on the left panel in the following web page. The right panel in the same page shows the tombstone for Masashige’s soldiers. Notice that the tomebstones are again stone stupas which are similar to the one found on the Mimizuka.
http://www.vill.chihayaakasaka.osaka.jp/~kanko/new/kusunoki/yosete.html
If you search on the web with keywords “敵味方供養塔”, “敵身方供養塔” or “敵御方供養塔” (all mean “Stupa for foe and friend”), you’ll find many examples of tombs for enemies. An extreme case of such practice was that, after the Mongolian invasion of Japan in the 13th century, a huge temple, Enkakuji, was constructed in kamakura for appeasing the spirits of both the Monglian war dead and the Japanese war dead.
Some articles on the web seem to try to suggest that the body parts buried in Mimizuka included civilian’s ones. It would be doubtless that there were many civilians slain during the Hideyoshi’s invasion, but it is unlikely that civilian’s body parts were brought to Japan. In those days, judgement of merits after battles was quite strict. They had to have clear evidence or eyewitnesses concerning the rank of the enemy whom they killed in order for them to receive rewards or to be granted honor. Bringing civilian’s body parts had no meaning for them.
I’d introduce you an article concerning the history of war trophies below. The article would be informative for you, who filed this post under the tag of the “Ministry of Barbarian Affairs,” to learn how to treat barbarians.
http://www.science.ulster.ac.uk/psyri/profiles/s_harrison/documents/skulltrophies.pdf
I’m intrigued by Aki’s previous post, especially regarding the careful confirmation that the body part had to receive for it to be regarded as honorable killing.
What I don’t understand is, was there really a need to spend time to cut up noses if eyewitness testimony would suffice? Or what might have constituted clear evidence.
Anyway, thank you for informative posts.
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