The is a megalithic monument located in the grounds of the , a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

located in the city of Takasago,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

in the Kansai region of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Of unknown age, it was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1979 collectively with the nearby , which dates from the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

. It is also called the .

Ishi no Hōden

The Ishi-no-Hōden is made from

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

and is surrounded on three sides by unprocessed bedrock. With a weight estimated at 500 tons, it measures 6.4 meters wide by 5.7 meters high by 7.2 meters in thickness. In shape, it is carved in the form of two flat rectangular parallelepipeds oriented vertically and sandwiching a small rectangular parallelepiped. One of the sides has a protrusion shaped like the top of a pyramid. The space between the surrounding bedrock and the megalith is wide enough for one adult to pass through, and it is possible to go around (admission fee is required). The monolith is situated in a large depression, which forms a pond at its base. The monolith is carved with a pillar at the center of its base, which is not visible at eye-level, so the monolith appears to be floating above the pond. From 2005 to 2006, laser three-dimensional measurement was carried out to confirm the shape by the Takasago City Board of Education with the cooperation of the

Otemae University Otemae University ( ja, 大手前大学 Ōtemae Daigaku) is a liberal arts oriented school that began in 1946. It is in the Kansai region of Japan and has three campuses: one in Itami, one in Osaka, and a co-educational university in Nishinomiya. ...

Research Institute; however, the date the monolith was carved, and by whom and for what purpose remain in complete mystery. In legend, the ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' Ōkuninushi and Sukunabikona came from

Izumo Izumo (出雲) may refer to: Locations * Izumo Province, an old province of Japan * Izumo, Shimane, a city located in Shimane Prefecture ** Izumo Airport * Izumo-taisha, one of Japan's most ancient and important Shinto shrines Ships * ''Izumo ...

Harima or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During the ...

and attempted to build a stone palace overnight. Their efforts were thwarted by a rebellion of the ''kami'' of Harima, and the partially completed palace was overthrown. Nevertheless, Ōkuninushi and Sukunabiko decided to protect the land. The monolith is mentioned in the "Harima Kokudo

Fudoki are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and ...

" which is dated to around 713 to 717, which attributes it to

Mononobe no Moriya was an '' Ō-muraji'', a high-ranking clan head position of the ancient Japanese Yamato state, having inherited the position from his father Mononobe no Okoshi. Like his father, he was a devoted opponent of Buddhism, which had recently been intr ...

per the orders of

Prince Shotoku A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

, even though when Prince Shotoku became regent, Mononobe no Moriya had long been dead. During the

Edo Period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

made note of the monument and left three detailed sketches of it in the first volume of his work ''Nippon. Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan und dessen Neben- und Schutzländern'' from 1832. The monolith is 1.5 kilometers from Hoden Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

San'yō Main Line The is a major railway line owned by JR Group companies in western Japan, connecting Kōbe Station and Moji Station, largely paralleling the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, Inland Sea, in other words, the southern coast of western Honshu. The Sa ...

Tatsuyama Stone Quarries

"Tatsuyama stone" is the name given to

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

welded

found on the right bank of the lower reaches of the Kakogawa River. It is a thick deposit of

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of bu ...

ejected by volcanic activity in the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

about 100 million years ago and has the density and material strength suitable as a building material. Traces of stone quarries have been found at numerous locations within the borders of the city of Takasago, of which 162 locations covering 670,000 square meters remain. These quarries have been in operation for over 1700 years, from the Kofun period to then present day, and 31 locations in the Tatsuyama and Hodenyama neighborhoods covering 110,000 squad meters were selected for protection as a National Historic Site in 1979. Stone from these quarries was transported by boat from the Hokkesantani River that flows near the quarry, and was used for buildings and stone Buddhas. It was used as the material for many sarcophagus from the middle and late Kofun period and foundation stones for Heijo Palace and various temples in the Yamato region. In more modern times, it was used in the stone walls of

Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex situated in the city of Himeji which is located in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of ...

, the Tokyo Imperial Palace and

National Diet Building The is the building where both houses of the National Diet, National Diet of Japan meet. It is located at Nagatachō, Tokyo, Nagatachō 1-chome 7–1, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Sessions of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives ta ...

and many other buildings.

Gallery

Isinohôden (Siebold Nippon II Tab. XXIII).jpg, "Isinohôden" in

Siebold Siebold or von Siebold is a German surname: * Carl Caspar von Siebold (1736–1807), surgeon * Regina von Siebold (1771–1849), obstetrician * Adam Elias von Siebold (1775–1828), medical doctor * Charlotte von Siebold (1788–1859), gynaecol ...

's ''Nippon'' Atsumori & Isinohôden (Siebold Nippon II Tab. XXIV).jpg, Gravestone of

Atsumori (1169–1184) was a ''samurai'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He was a member of the Taira clan. He fought in the Genpei War against the Minamoto. Career Atsumori was a warrior during the Genpei War. He is famous for his early death at ...

and Isinohôden in

's ''Nippon'' Tatsuyama stone.jpg, Tatsuyama stone quarries

References

External links

Hyogo Tourism official site

{{in lang, ja History of Hyōgo Prefecture Takasago, Hyōgo Archaeological sites in Japan Historic Sites of Japan Megalithic monuments Quarries

Ishi no Hōden

Tatsuyama Stone Quarries

Gallery

See also

References

External links