For the fans of Shakespeare's Macbeth or the new age Harry Potter, there's news of witchcraft, superstition, mythology, mystery and a little bit of black magic angle existing outside the fiction world.
After a famous volcanic rock was found split into two, for the past couple of days, social media in Japan has been inundated with ominous predictions of dark forces. These dark forces being unleashed by an evil vixen as the infamous rock is said to kill anyone who comes in contact with it.
Mythology surrounding the killing stone
If the mythology surrounding the Sessho-seki, also termed as the killing stone, is to be believed, the object contains the transformed corpse of Tamamo-no-Mae. Mae was a beautiful woman and also a part of a secret plot hatched by a feudal warlord to kill the historical Emperor Toba, the reigning king from 1107-1123.
As per the folklore of the country, Mae's true identity was that of an evil nine-tailed fox whose spirit was embedded in the hunk of lava, located in an area of Tochigi prefecture near Tokyo.
When, why and how
The separation of the rock into two equal parts is believed to have taken place in the past few days, thereby snowballing into a tale of spooky speculations. The social media users noted that the stone, as per the legend, continually spews poisonous gas.
This stone, as per another theory, is believed to have been destroyed and its spirit exorcised by a Buddhist monk who scattered its pieces across Japan.
The area where the stone lies is a popular tourist attraction for a long period, even before the stone was registered officially as a local historical site in 1957. It has also been mentioned in Matsuo Basho's seminal work The Narrow Road to the Deep North and has inspired several works in the world of performing arts and cinema, which include an anime film and a play.
The visitors were horrified after several users posted photos of the broken stone. "I came along to Sesshoseki, where the legend of the nine-tailed fox remains. The big rock in the middle wrapped around with a rope is that. It was supposed to be, but the rock was split in half and the rope was also detached. If it's manga, it's a pattern that the seal is broken and it's possessed by the nine-tailed fox, and I feel like I've seen something that shouldn't be seen," wrote a user, in a post that has attracted over 185k likes.
The second theory
Another set of believers say that the demon spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae had been resurrected after 1,000 years. Local media said that cracks in the rock could be seen several years ago. This opening led to rainwater seeping in and weakening its structure, thereby breaking the stone into two parts.
What next?
Masaharu Sugawara, head of a local volunteer guide group, told the local media that it was a shame that the stone could not be restored and split, despite being symbolic of their culture and folklore. But he also said that it was nature taking its course, which could not be prevented, reported The Guardian.
Archaeologists and government officials will meet to discuss the stone's fate and options will be explored on whether it can be restored to its original form. Japanese newspaper Shimotsuke Shimbun quoted a tourism official as saying that he would like to see the stone restored to its original, including the demonic inhabitant of the stone, sealed back into it.
