#execution ground

Yamada-machi prison was not located near the execution grounds, it sat on the complete opposite end of Kochi castle town. Edo-period urban planning deliberately separated the prison from the open riverbed where common executions and public display of severed heads took place.

Okada Izo and the other members of the Tosa Kinnoto were held at Yamada-machi prison. On the 1830s map, the prison sits in the upper-right corner (highlighted in pink), while the Gankirigawara execution grounds lie on the southwest outskirts, the bottom-left corner, well beyond the map’s edge.

Izo would have been marched through the streets of the castle town from the prison to the execution grounds, following a custom known as hikimawashi, the parade of shame. Because he had been stripped of his samurai status and condemned as a common criminal, the authorities designed his final walk to be a deliberate public spectacle.

On the morning of July 3, 1865, Izo was bound tightly in ropes and brought out of the gates of Yamada-machi prison. He was placed on horseback, surrounded by armed guards and officials carrying placards listing his crimes, then paraded through the most crowded districts of the castle town as a warning to the public.

His route likely looked something like this: leaving Yamada-machi prison, the procession headed south and west through the bustling merchant districts before turning onto the long, straight samurai street running parallel to the Kagami River, with local residents and lower-ranking samurai lining the road to watch him pass, until he was finally brought out onto the wide gravel flats of Gankirigawara to face the executioner.

Goodbye to Shichiken-machi

Izo didn’t merely pass by his home on the way to his execution, he started right next to it. The Okada family home on Shichiken-machi street (marked in yellow on the map above) sat north-west of the prison compound, just across a small bridge. When the guards marched Izo out of the front gates that morning, he would have seen his old neighborhood and his family home across the river.

His parents and younger brother Keikichi, who was under house arrest at the time, were almost certainly inside, but the family of a condemned criminal scheduled for public parade and execution was strictly forbidden from interacting with or seeing off the prisoner. The procession was an act of public shaming managed tightly by guards, and any attempt by the family to step outside, call his name, or offer a final word of comfort would have been treated as obstruction of domain justice, a serious offense carrying severe legal consequences.

Gankirikawara

Gankiri riverbank lay near what is today the Momiji Bridge, which spans the Kagami River. Historically, this stretch of riverbed served as one of the domain’s three execution grounds. The landscape has changed significantly: the original gravel riverbed has largely been replaced by modern embankments but the bridge marks the general vicinity where Okada Izo’s head was put on public display.

(The cursive notes accompanying the sketch above serve as a factual caption, recording that in the sixth month of the Ganshi era (1865), the public display of the severed head of Izo from Tosa was carried out.)

After the execution, Izo’s body was likely buried in an unmarked mass grave while his head was displayed on a wooden board beside the bridge along with a placard listing his crimes. Once the initial three-day public display ended and the guards withdrew, Izo’s younger brother Keikichi quietly went to reclaim his remains during the night. Thanks to Keikichi’s efforts, Izo was given a proper burial at the Okada family plot.

In the aftermath of the execution, the Tosa domain issued an official punishment to the Okada household. The family was stripped of their goshi status, their small annual stipend of roughly 20 koku of rice confiscated, and they were reduced overnight to the status of commoners. Izo’s father, Gihei, died just days later.

(There’s a possible discrepancy here as some sources have him dying a few days prior to Izo’s death, rather than a few days after. As he had previously attempted to appeal on Izo’s behalf directly to domain authorities, which was highly improper, I wonder whether he committed seppuku. Which, I suppose, could still be a potential cause of death even after Izo’s execution if he chose to take his life once the family were issued their official punishment.)

5:55 AM EDT April 5, 2025:

Painkiller - "Pashupatinath" From the EP Execution Ground (November 15, 1994)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

11:12 PM EST February 16, 2025:

Painkiller - "Pashupatinath" From the EP Execution Ground (November 15, 1994)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

10:42 PM EDT July 2, 2024:

Painkiller - "Pashupatinath" From the EP Execution Ground (November 15, 1994)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

11:03 AM EDT June 8, 2024:

Painkiller - "Pashupatinath (Ambient)" From the EP Execution Ground (November 15, 1994)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

8:31 AM EDT March 29, 2024:

Painkiller - "Pashupatinath" From the EP Execution Ground (November 15, 1994)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

2:15 PM EDT March 28, 2024:

Painkiller - "Pashupatinath (Ambient)" From the EP Execution Ground (November 15, 1994)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm