Designated: January 17, 1967
Height: 1.4 m
Made of natural greenschist from the Kinokawa River, the stone reads, “Grave of Jofuku of Qin.” (The Chinese sage Xu Fu is called “Jofuku” in Japan, where legends say he visited.) Oral tradition says that the stone was erected by Yorinobu Tokugawa, 1st Lord of Kishu, who had it inscribed by Li Baikei, his Confucian minister. However, the Kumano History mentions the “erection of the Grave of Jofuku in a grove of camphor in 1736,” establishing its construction to be about a century later.

Next to the tombstone is the Jofuku Kenshohi (“Monument to Unsung Deeds”). Though it was originally planned to be erected by the domain’s Confucian minister Koko Niida in 1834, he met with disaster at sea while traveling from Wakayama, and the stone was never completed. According to remaining written records, the present monument dates from 1940.

April 2002
Shingu City Board of Education
Shingu City Commerce and Tourism Division