is a shrine in Kamakura

Kamakura, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

, Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It was erected by Emperor Meiji

Emperor Meiji

The or was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death...

 in 1869 to worship the spirit of Prince Morinaga

Prince Morinaga

was a son of Emperor Go-Daigo and Minamoto no Chikako executed by Ashikaga Tadayoshi in 1335.When Moriyoshi was 18, Go-Daigo had him named the head abbot of the Enryakuji temple on Mount Hiei....

, who was imprisoned and later executed where the shrine now stands in 1335. For this reason, the shrine is also known as from the Prince's full name (Ōtōnomiya Morinaga).

Prince Morinaga was Ashikaga Takauji

Ashikaga Takauji

was the founder and first shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromachi period of Japan, and ended with his death in 1358...

's most dangerous political rival in Kyoto, so he was arrested with a pretext by him in 1334 and first kept prisoner there, then sent to Kamakura. Ashikaga's younger brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi

Ashikaga Tadayoshi

was a general of the Northern and Southern Courts period of Japanese history and a close associate of his elder brother Takauji, the first Muromachi shogun. Son of Ashikaga Sadauji and of a daughter of Uesugi Yorishige, the same mother as Takauji, he was a pivotal figure of the chaotic transition...

 held Morinaga captive for nine months in a small cave at the site of the present Kamakura-gū shrine. When Tadayoshi was forced to retreat from Kamakura after losing a battle to Hōjō Tokiyuki

Hojo Tokiyuki

was a samurai of the Hōjō clan who fought both for and against the Imperial Court. His father was Hōjō Takatoki, last Regent and de facto ruler of the Kamakura shogunate....

, before leaving he gave the order for Morinaga's execution. The Prince was beheaded on July 23, 1335. The cave still exists today in the rockface behind the shrine, and is a tourist attraction. It is four meters deep and has an area of 12 square meters.