A few weeks ago, Mika and I had a walk around our Nishikata apartment. It was a bright Sunday morning, and people starting to get up slowly for a cup of coffee. We went to the Sendagi area and visited Nezu Shrine by chance. There we found the place of the burial of the placenta of one of the Shoguns of Tokugawa. The placenta has had a long, intriguing, complicated and ethically ambivalent history