Nose tomb

Nose tombs (鼻の墓) are tombs that contain human noses or other body parts that were severed from Koreans and brought back to Japan as trophies during the Japanese invasions of Korea in the late 16th century. War trophies were a part of Japanese tradition at the time and samurai warriors were often paid according to how many they collected.

One such nose tomb was discovered in 1983 in Okayama near Osaka. This tomb held the severed and pickled noses of approximately 20,000 dead Koreans which were eventually returned to Korea in 1992 and cremated. A similar tomb still exists today in Kyoto called the Mimizuka, literally "Ear Mound". In Japan, these tombs are considered relics by the few who are aware of them, but in Korea these tombs are very well-known (in the 1970s even taught to schoolchildren, and depicted in comic books ) and are often a source of anti-Japanese sentiment.