photo #1639054

Ishida Mitsunari, Konishi Yukinaga and Ankokuji Ekei were executed for their "crimes" at the Battle of Sekigahara on this day, November 6, 1600.The captured trio of Ishida Mitsunari, Ankokuji Ekei, and Konishi Yukinaga were publicly exhibited around the Sakai area of Osaka with metal rings placed around their necks and, in Mitsunari’s case, dressed in an embarrassing red and white short-sleeved kimono. In Osaka, Mitsunari was made to shout out his alleged crimes in a loud voice and describe the troubles he had caused as a further embarrassment. The three of them were further exposed to public ridicule in Kyoto. The very next day, November 6, they were executed at Rokujo-ga-hara, the dry riverbed of the Kamo River in Kyoto. Their heads were then put on display beside the city’s Sanjo Bridge.A well-known story is that on his way to the execution grounds, Mitsunari was offered a persimmon, but refused it on the grounds that it would be bad for his indigestion. Konishi, his partner in death, is said to have remarked that as they were about to be put to death, it was hardly necessary to consider his digestion. Mitsunari replied that, "As one can never tell how things are going to turn out, one must at all times take care of one's health.”Mitsunari's skull was stolen from the riverbank, and was re-discovered in 1907 in Kyoto's Sangen-in temple. Using the skull as a base, Mitsunari’s facial features were recreated by Dr. Nagayasu Shuichi, former Chief of engineering of the Tokyo National Research Institute of Police Sciences at the request of photographer and descendent of Mitsunari, Mr. Ishida Takayuki. It appears he had an elongated head and a pronounced defect in his teeth that caused them to bow outwards. The rest of his skeleton was later studied by Dr. Ishida Tetsuro, (no relation) of the Kansai Idai Medical University.