Emperor Sutoku, the emperor of tragedy, was born in 1119 between Emperor Toba and Chugu(Empress), Fujiwara Tamako, as the first prince.  However, Emperor Toba’s suspicion that Sutoku was the son of his grandfather, Emperor Shirakawa, did not disappear, and this lingered until later, and after all, in the first year of Hogen (1156), the imperial court split into the party of Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the party of Emperor Sutoku, and this caused the outbreak of “Hogen Rebellion”.  Emperor Sutoku, who lost the battle, was exiled to Sanuki in Shikoku and died here.  Three years later, Saigyo, who has served as Hokumen no bushi (the Imperial Palace Guards for the north side) since he was young, visited and consoled the souls. This tragedy has been handed down as Ueda Akinari’s “Ugetsu Monogatari” and Noh’s “Matsuyama Tengu”.

悲劇の天皇、崇徳天皇は、元永2年（1119）に鳥羽天皇と中宮・藤原璋子（ふじわらのたまこ、待賢門院）の間に第一皇子として誕生しました。しかし実は祖父・白河法皇の子ではないかとの鳥羽天皇の猜疑心は消えず、これが後々まで尾を引いて、保元元年（1156）、朝廷が後白河天皇派と崇徳上皇派に分裂したことにより勃発した「保元の乱」の原因になります。戦いに敗れた崇徳上皇は四国の讃岐に流され、この地で崩御します。その3年後には崇徳院とは若い時から北面の武士として仕えた西行法師が詣で慰霊します。この悲劇は上田秋成の『雨月物語』や能の『松山天狗』として語り継がれています。