Shogunzuka Mound

When Emperor Kammu founded Kyoto in 794, there is a legend that he ordered a 2.5 meter-tall statue of a general (shogun) dressed in armor and holding a sword as well as a bow and arrows to be buried in a mound facing the Kyoto Imperial Palace to serve as a guardian for the palace.
Starting in the late Heian period (c. 12th century), a legend was born that whenever something threatened the realm, this mound would rumble, warning people. According to the Genpei Seisuiki (Chronicle of the Rise and Fall of the Minamoto and Taira Clans), in July 1179, a year before Minamoto-no-Yoritomo raised his army, the mound rumbled three times, and then shortly after, there was a great earthquake.
The “Shogunzuka Engi Emaki” (Scroll Painting of the Making of Shogunzuka) by Toba Sojo, famed for his Choju-Giga (Animal-Person Caricatures), contains an illustration of the statue being buried.
The main deity venerated at the Seiryu-den hall, Dainichi Nyorai, is believed to have originally come from the Kacho-in temple, and was discovered on the hillside nearby. The beautiful grounds, famed for their cherry trees in spring and red leaves in autumn, feature pine trees hand-planted by Admiral Togo and General Kuroki, two of the heroes of the Russo-Japanese War.
Kyoto City