HUMAN PILLARS
JAPAN’S IMPERIAL PALACE Workers re-starting the- old watchtowers and walls surrounding the Imperial Palace in Japan unearthed a number of skeletons below the old foundations of one of the main towers, erected some 300 years ago. They are the bones of th& 44 human pillars” of tho watch-tower. They were buried standing upright, with outstretched arms, palms upwards. In each palm and on top of each head was an ancient coin. These humans—the skeletons are of both men and women—• were not sacrificed, but were volunteers, who gave their lives in such a dreadful fashion to benefit their lord. Until comparatively recently it was the belief in Japan that important structures could be rendered safe and permanent if, within the foundations, there could be buried alive a certain number of strong, healthy human beings.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19251024.2.106.4.17
Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19437, 24 October 1925, Page 17 (Supplement)
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136HUMAN PILLARS Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19437, 24 October 1925, Page 17 (Supplement)
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