At the top of Mt. Kinugasa, the tomb of Emperor Tenmu, there was a stone chamber

[Japanese]

Wednesday,14th of October, 2020

On Saturday, October 3rd, we went to visit the tomb of Emperor Kōbun (弘文天皇) and stayed at the nearby Umeya (梅屋). On the next day, Sunday, October 4th, we hurriedly decided to climb Mt. Kinugasa, the tomb of Emperor Tenmu (天武天皇).

Emperor Kōbun (弘文天皇) was the son of Emperor Tenji (天智天皇). Thus, Emperor Tenmu (天武天皇) was the uncle of Emperor Kōbun (弘文天皇) and was supposed to be the elder brother of Emperor Tenji. However, the historical truth is that Emperor Tenmu was actually the younger brother of Emperor Tenji. (I'll have to write more details about this eventually.)

These two persons, Emperor Kobun and Emperor Tenmu were the main characters in the Jinshin War (壬申の乱).

I had previously climbed Mt. Kinugasa (衣笠山) knowing that it was Emperor Tenmu's tomb, but I really wanted to take Emperor Kobun to Emperor Tenmu's tomb.

I also wanted to find out if there was a stone chamber at the top of the mountain, so I asked Mr. Takebe to help me out.

We decided to climb from the shrine at the foot of the mountain where we had previously climbed, but the path to the shrine was the first time we had ever taken.

The entrance was so steep and narrow path and it was so scary as if I was told, "You can't climb it", that I had to stop driving. After that, it was so narrow that a car could barely get through, and to tell the truth, it was a scary road that I didn't want to pass through.

We finally arrived at the shrine, and from there we climbed up the last time, so we felt safe as we went up.

'Is Emperor Kobun following us...?', 'Is Emperor Temmu waiting for us eagerly ...?', 'What are their thoughts...?' I was thinking to myself while I followed Mr. Takebe.

Then, we arrived at the summit.

I took out the characteristic zero-field L-rod core and started to investigate right away.

As a result, we found out that a stone chamber measuring 3m 60cm x 6m in a north-south direction had been built underground.

As we descended the mountain,  Mr. Takebe spotted a dragon rock.

"A dragon! Definitely a dragon!" He said.

Then we descended the steep mountain slope in one fell swoop and came down to the shrine grounds that we began to climb.

I got in the car with thinking ”Had Emperor Tenmu and Emperor Kobun had a good reunion?”, "Did they follow us?" Then I sat on the passenger's seat, poking my head out a little bit so I could see the tires, I was saying, "All right, all right," while the car was moving back, but I was in fear. Then I found myself relieved when we pulled out onto the main road.

Finally, we were going to Kōnin-ji Temple (弘仁寺) and the mountain behind it, Mt. Kokuzo-san (虚空蔵山). We didn't have time to eat lunch, so Mr. Takebe drove us there with one of the rest of Dorayaki, which we had purchased at a convenience store as an offering to Emperor Tenmu.

With wondering if they had gotten into the car with us...