Ishibune Shrine

Ishibune Shrine keeps an unusual relic: the lacquered, reconstructed head of fourteenth-century Prince Morinaga, who was captured and beheaded in Kamakura after clashing with the powerful warrior Ashikaga Tadayoshi. A princess carried his head to Tsuru before she died, and centuries later craftsmen covered the skull in lacquer and sawdust to recreate his face, with polished crystals for eyes. It goes on public display once a year, on January 15. The shrine grounds are also home to a colony of musasabi flying squirrels that venture out at dusk, and patient visitors often spot one gliding between the trees.