Kubizuka Daimyōjin (首塚大明神)

Quick Facts

Type

Shrine or temple

Prefecture

Kyoto · Kyoto (Nishikyō, Oinosaka pass)

Nearest station

Katsura Station (Hankyu Kyoto Line)

From the station

Bus toward Kameoka to the Oinosaka-tōge stop, then 10 to 15 minutes on foot along the old road

English signage

none

Opening hours and admission

No official site listed · information checked on 2026-11-03

Hours, admission and closing days change, and this site does not list them. The link goes to the place's own page, with the date we last checked it.

What is there

At the top of Oinosaka pass, where the old road from Tanba comes down into the Kyoto basin, a torii and a small hall stand among trees beside the national road. This is the Mound of the Head. A stone marker tells the tale, the hall is tended by local people, and the shrine is prayed to for ailments above the neck. The annual festival is on 15 April. The pass is reached by bus from Katsura and a walk along a road with little pavement.

Why here

Raikō and his men came down this road with the oni king’s head, and at the pass the Jizō of the road forbade them to bring an unclean thing into the capital; the head grew so heavy it could not be lifted, and they buried it where it lay. The oni was said to have repented before he died and promised to heal sicknesses of the head. The tale of the fortress on Mount Ōe is in the article; this is where it ends, on the city’s edge.

Yokai you will meet

Shuten-dōji 酒呑童子 — The mound where the oni king's head was buried on the way back to the capital.
Oni 鬼 — The oni who repented at the pass and is prayed to for sicknesses of the head.

Getting there

Katsura Station (Hankyu Kyoto Line). Bus toward Kameoka to the Oinosaka-tōge stop, then 10 to 15 minutes on foot along the old road.

Sources and further reading

Reliable secondary Nishikyō ward map: Oinosaka Kyoto City City map sheet marking Kubizuka Daimyōjin at Oinosaka pass.

Database Kubizuka Daimyōjin (首塚大明神) Wikipedia (Japanese) The shrine at Oinosaka pass, the burial of Shuten-dōji's head and the festival of 15 April.

Other places with these yokai

Japan Oni Exchange Museum 日本の鬼の交流博物館 Museum Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — Shuten-dōji, Oni

Onitake Inari Shrine on Mount Ōe 鬼嶽稲荷神社 Shrine or temple Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — Shuten-dōji, Oni

Mitsuishi Shrine and the Oni's Handprints 三ツ石神社（鬼の手形） Shrine or temple Morioka, Iwate — Oni

Namahage Museum and Shinzan Folklore Museum なまはげ館・男鹿真山伝承館 Museum Oga, Akita — Oni

Kijin Shrine 鬼鎮神社 Shrine or temple Ranzan, Saitama — Oni

Kinasa Folk Museum and the Demon Woman Momiji 鬼無里ふるさと資料館と鬼女紅葉の里 Museum Nagano (Kinasa), Nagano — Oni

Seimei Shrine and Ichijō Modoribashi 晴明神社・一条戻橋 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — Oni

Gangōji 元興寺 Shrine or temple Nara, Nara — Oni

Kibitsu Shrine 吉備津神社 Shrine or temple Okayama, Okayama — Oni

Kinojō, the Oni's Castle 鬼ノ城 Site Sōja, Okayama — Oni

Other places in Kyoto

Seimei Shrine and Ichijō Modoribashi 晴明神社・一条戻橋 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — The shrine on the site of the court diviner's house and, a hundred metres south, the bridge where a warrior cut off an oni's arm.

Nue Pond and Nue Daimyōjin 鵺池・鵺大明神 Site Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — A small stone-edged pond in a city park north-west of Nijō Castle, where the arrow that killed the nue was said to have been washed.

Kurama-dera 鞍馬寺 Shrine or temple Kyoto (Sakyō), Kyoto — The mountain temple north of Kyoto where the king of the tengu taught a boy to fight, reached past a giant tengu head at the station.

Japan Oni Exchange Museum 日本の鬼の交流博物館 Museum Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — A museum of oni at the foot of Mount Ōe, where the oni king's fortress stood in the tale, with a roof tile five metres high outside.

Onitake Inari Shrine on Mount Ōe 鬼嶽稲荷神社 Shrine or temple Fukuchiyama (Ōe), Kyoto — A lone shrine at the eighth station of the oni's mountain, where the trail to Shuten-dōji's summit begins and the valley below fills with cloud at dawn.

Ichijō Yōkai Street and Daishōgun Hachi Shrine 一条妖怪ストリート（大将軍商店街）と大将軍八神社 Street Kyoto (Kamigyō), Kyoto — Four hundred metres of shops on the road the night parade once took, with yokai figures at their doors and the shrine of the direction god at the west end.