Enku's Burial Mound

Enku's Burial Mound, also called 円空入定塚, is a megalithic mound in Ikujiri, Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is traditionally associated with the itinerant monk Enku, who lived from 1632 to 1695 and was known as 円空仏 for the distinctive Buddhist images he made.

According to the account at Miroku-ji, Enku realized in 1695 that his death was near and asked his disciple 円長 to arrange his affairs. He then dug a hole beside the 長良川, surrounded by local people, chanted a Buddhist invocation, and buried himself in the earth. A surviving document dated the same day has led some people to question the account.

Enku revived Miroku-ji, a temple founded in the late Asuka period and later abandoned, and made it his own monastery. He is said to have told people that while the wisteria around Miroku-ji continued to bloom, they should think of him as alive beneath the earth. The mound now stands beneath a wisteria pergola, which bears flowers in season.

Enku's grave is described as lying in the hills above Miroku-ji ruins. The site was designated a Gifu Prefecture historic site on 1973 (昭和48) 11月14日. Its recorded dating is 250 CE to 650 CE by typological estimate, although the traditions preserved about it concern Enku's death in 1695.

Enku's Burial Mound is a megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones) in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. A typological estimate: 250 CE to 650 CE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the Japanese article "円空入定塚", shown in the original language.