108 Grotto Tombs

The Ten-en hiking trail runs for nearly five miles through the northern mountain area of Kamakura, passing by a number of fascinating rock formations and centuries-old ruins and sculptures. Along the route, hikers may also find several yagura, rock-cut grotto-tombs typical of medieval Kamakura, which concentrate the most at the site called Hyakuhachi Yagura, or 108 Grotto Tombs.

In Buddhist tradition, 108 is said to be the number of vices and desires carried by every person, and often used simply to denote a large number with religious undertones. It is believed that there are actually closer to 200 such tombs at this site. Hundreds of samurai, artists and monks of the upper class rest in peace in this troglodyte necropolis.

Inside the grave grottoes are crumbling funerary pagodas and statuettes of the Buddha and Ksitigarbha, many of whose heads seem to have been cut off. This sacrilegious state was caused by the superstition that carrying these heads would bring good luck, believed by local gamblers at the turn of the century.

While the site seems long-abandoned and neglected for centuries, a few of the stelae mention Tokyo in their inscriptions, suggesting that they were erected after the city of Edo became Tokyo in 1868. Nevertheless, there is a spooky, abandoned feel all around, and it is no wonder that some believe the site to be haunted.