Hiratsuka no Tsuka (平塚の塚)

Hiratsuka no Tsuka

Stone monument engraved "平塚の碑"

Located about a 20-minute walk west of Hiratsuka Station in the Hiratsuka area of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, is a small park called Hiratsuka no Tsuka Ryokuchi (平塚の塚緑地). Within the park is a small mound, about a meter high, surrounded by an octagonal stone fence. Inside the fence are a stone monument engraved with the words "平塚の碑" (Hiratsuka no Hi), literally "Hiratsuka Monument," erected in 1973, and a pine tree. This mound, known as Hiratsuka no Tsuka (平塚の塚), is said to be the origin of the city's name, Hiratsuka.

The Shinpen Sagami-no-Kuni Fudokiko, a topographical record of Sagami Province — which covered most of present-day Kanagawa Prefecture — completed in 1841, records that Masako (眞砂子 or 政子), the daughter of Prince Takami, the great-grandson of Emperor Kanmu, died at this location in February 857 while traveling eastward. She was buried beside a large pine tree, and a tsuka (mound) was built over her grave. Over time, the top of the mound gradually flattened, and local people began calling it hiratsuka (平塚), meaning "flat mound."

The large stone monument beside Hiratsuka no Tsuka was erected in 1920 by Tadakazu Ariyoshi, who was governor of Kanagawa Prefecture at the time. The title inscription, "平塚碑" (Hiratsuka-hi), was written by Yorimichi Tokugawa, who served as a member of the House of Peers. The smaller stone monument was erected in 1956 by Sadao Togawa, then mayor of Hiratsuka, to commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of Masako's death. The pine tree standing today is said to be the third-generation pine tree at the site.