Located in Arakawa, Tokyo and in an area with loud trains passing by over the location is the Kozukappara Execution Grounds.
A location, one of the three of what was then known as the vicinity of Edo, was where criminals were executed by the Tokugawa Shogunate.
And it is said that somewhere between 100,000-200,000 criminals were executed, especially in 1858-1860 as part of the “Ansei Purge”, in which anyone who did not support the Tokugawa Shogunate’s foreign trade policies were killed.
And it is where Japanese scholar Sugita Genpaku, Doctor, Botanist and Rangaku scholar Nakagawa Jun’an and Japanese physician and Rangaku scholar Katsuragawa Hoshu and their colleagues studied anatomy through the dissections of the criminals at Kozukappara.
To get to the area, take Ueno Station via the Hibiya Line via Minami-Kurihashi and arrive at Minami-Senju Station.
The location may get confused with another cemetery site but for the most part, one should just look out for the huge statue on the front center and be amazed by the stues near it.
But going through the Kozukaparra Execution Grounds, you are a bit in awe but then you can’t help but feel sadness knowing what you are seeing and what the grounds were used for. It’s one thing to use the word criminal for the worst type of human beings but these are people who were executed for not believing or conforming to the Tokugawa Shogunate and its foreign policies.
If you are looking for a location that is unlike other locations, especially an execution ground, may want to give the Kozuappara Execution Grounds a try!
