Hiratsuka no Tsuka (平塚の塚)

Hiratsuka no Tsuka

Stone monument on the tsuka

Located west of Hiratsuka Station in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Hiratsuka no Tsuka Ryokuchi (平塚の塚緑地) is a park with a mound believed to be the origin of the city's name.

The Shinpen Sagami-no-Kuni Fudokiko, a topographical record of Sagami Province (which covers most of present-day Kanagawa Prefecture) completed in 1841, records that in February 857, Masako, the daughter of Prince Takami — the great-grandson of Emperor Kanmu — passed away at this location while traveling eastward. Her coffin was buried here and a tsuka (mound) was built as her grave.

Over time, the top of the mound gradually flattened and the local people began calling it hiratsuka, meaning "flat mound." This is said to be the origin of the place name Hiratsuka.

Reference:

• 平塚市観光協会. (n.d.). 平塚の塚. 湘南ひらつかナビ SHONAN HIRATSUKA NAVI. https://www.hiratsuka-kankou.com/spot/tokaido08.html