Kamakura, the medieval capital of Japan, is set in a “natural citadel” facing the sea and surrounded by wooded hills in all other directions. As there are sandstone cliffs everywhere, it developed a unique style of tomb called the yagura, an artificial grotto where the ashes of the deceased are buried, alongside Buddhist effigies and funerary pagodas. Approximately 3,000 such burial caves are known today, both big and small, and a number of “yagura clusters” can be found all across the city. The Mandarado site in Zushi, historically part of…
