Genchuji Temple, standing alone and forsaken on a quiet street in Shinhonji-cho, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, is where Araki Mataemon lies under a tombstone. Araki Mataemon was a renowned swordsman, who helped the vengeance of a young man at Kagiyanotsuji in Iga province, which is counted as one of Japan’s three most famous vengeances.

Traditionally, it is considered to be particularly good luck to dream of Mount Fuji, a hawk, and an eggplant. One theory suggests that an eggplant was included because the calyx of an eggplant feels prickly (“iga-iga” in Japanese), which is a pun of Iga, the place of the vengeance, and thus means the attainment of one’s desires.

In the precinct of the temple is a history museum, where Mataemon’s mementoes including the sword and chain armor actually used in the vengeance are displayed. In kuri (the priest’s quarters), a fine painting on a fusuma (sliding doors) “Rakan fusuma-painting” by Byakusetsu Takagi, a Japanese painter from Kurayoshi City in the prefecture.