The site of the Matsudaira daimyo graves

In a wood at the entrance to Aizu-Wakamatsu's Higashiyama Spa there is a line of stone tortoises bearing gravestones on their backs. These are the graves of the Matsudaira daimyos (feudal lords) of the Aizu clan who were the leaders of the clan and owners of Tsurugajo Castle for 226 years until the Meiji revolution in the late nineteenth century. There were nine generations of Matsudaira daimyos, and all but the first daimyo were buried in this site. (The grave of the first Matsudaira daimyo, Masayuki Hoshina, can be found in the Hanitsu Shrine in Inawashiro Town under the name of Hanitsu.)

The daimyos' graves are traditional Shinto-style graves. Apart from the stone tortoise bearing a gravestone, each daimyo has two other gravestones of simpler designs.

The last of the Aizu clan daimyos, Katamori Matsudaira, died of illness in 1894 in Nikko at the age of 59. After his clan's defeat in the Boshin Civil War he was forced to leave his castle and became the chief priest of the Nikko Toshogu and Futaarai shrines.

In 1918 his remains finally came to rest alongside those of his ancestors in Aizu-Wakamatsu.