Japan's 'killing stone' splits in two, releasing superstitions amid the sulphur springs
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/07/japans-killing-stone-splits-in-two-releasing-superstitions-and-toxic-gases
Japans killing stone splits in two, releasing superstitions amid the sulphur springs
Legend has it there is an evil spirit trapped in the Sessho-seki stone, so what happens now that the stone is broken?
Tamamo-no-mae is confronted by a warrior as she turned into an evil fox with nine tails in this woodblock art by Yashima Gakutei. The killing stone said to contain her body in Japan has split.
Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. H. O. Havemeyer Collection
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Mon 7 Mar 2022 00.59 EST
Predictions of dark forces being unleashed by an evil vixen hung over social media in Japan on Monday after a famous volcanic rock said to kill anyone who comes into contact with it was found split in two.
According to the mythology surrounding the Sessho-seki, or killing stone, the object contains the transformed corpse of Tamamo-no-Mae, a beautiful woman who had been part of a secret plot hatched by a feudal warlord to kill Emperor Toba, who reigned from 1107-1123.
Legend has it that her true identity was an evil nine-tailed fox whose spirit is embedded in the hunk of lava, located in an area of Tochigi prefecture, near Tokyo, famous for its sulphurous hot springs.
Its separation into two roughly equal parts, believed to have occurred within the past few days, has spooked online users who noted that, according to folklore, the stone continually spews poisonous gas hence its name.
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