This often forgotten memorial is located not so far from the famous Kiyomizu dera temple and the Kyoto National museum on the Higashiyama and Shichijo crossing and just a few meters away from the Hokoku Shrine. The Hokuku shrine is also known as the Toyokuni shrine honoring Toyotomi Hideyoshi! Hideyoshi being the guy ordering the invasion and subsequently the recipient of the ears and noses!
During the 1592-98 Japanese invasion of Korea, Hideyoshi’s generals sliced off the ears and noses of the dead Koreans, pickled them and sent them back to Japan in Sake drums. This was the generals’ proof of victory and more importantly it decided upon their rewards and spoils of war!
While there I met a Japanese man who was also looking at the memorial, who confessed to me…he had never heard of this and it was his first time here! Don’t know how many ears and noses are actually buried here though, it sure is a reminder of the cruelties of war!
The Mimizuka was dedicated September 28, 1597. The exact reasons it was built are unknown. In that time, it was uncommon for a defeated enemy to be interred into a Buddhist shrine. Alternatively, the Mimizuka could have been meant as a warning for those who resisted Japanese conquest. The Mimizuka is not unique. Other nose and ear mounds dating from the same period are found elsewhere in Japan, such as Okayama.
AloJapan.com