Stone in Japan Rumoured to Hold Essence of Legendary Evil Spirit Gets Fractured
Local and national Japanese government officials are reportedly expected to meet and decide the stone's fate, with some already expressing a desire to see it restored.
A number of social media users ended up being somewhat spooked by the apparent destruction of a landmark whose origins are attributed to a malevolent spirit from Japanese folklore.
The landmark in question – a stone called Sessho-seki or "Killing Stone" - is located in the Tochigi prefecture in Japan, and is believed to be the transformed remains of Tamamo-no-Mae, a nine-tailed fox who masqueraded as a beautiful woman and was involved in a plot to kill the Japanese emperor in the 12th century.
The stone, which was believed to kill anyone who comes into contact with it, has fractured, separating into "two roughly equal parts", as The Guardian puts it.
Images of the stone's remains reportedly caused some visitors to the area to recoil "in horror", while one social media user even tweeted about the spectacle: "I feel like I’ve seen something that shouldn’t be seen."
While the stone's demise caused some to speculate about what caused it, even mulling the theory of Tamamo-no-Mae's resurrection, local media noted that cracks were spotted on the rock several years ago, and rainwater seeping in could potentially have weakened the stone's structure, the newspaper adds.
Local and national government officials are now reportedly expected to meet in order to discuss the fate of the landmark, with one tourism official already suggesting that he would like to see the stone restored.
https://sputniknews.com/20220307/stone-in-japan-rumoured-to-hold-essence-of-legendary-evil-spirit-gets-fractured-1093660121.html