Sessho-seki

Coordinates: 37°06′06″N 139°59′55″E / 37.1016692°N 139.9985806°E / 37.1016692; 139.9985806

Sessho-seki, Nasu, Tochigi

The Sessho-seki (殺生石, Sesshōseki), or "Killing Stone", is an object in Japanese mythology. It is said that the stone kills anyone who comes into contact with it.

Legend[]

The stone is believed to be the transformed corpse of Tamamo-no-Mae, a beautiful woman who was exposed to be a nine-tailed fox working for an evil daimyō plotting to kill Emperor Konoe and take his throne. As told in the otogi-zōshi, when the nine-tailed fox was killed by the famous warrior , its body became the Sessho-seki.

Haunting[]

The Sessho-seki was said to be haunted by Tamamo-no-Mae, the transformed spirit of the nine-tailed fox, until a Buddhist priest called Genno stopped for a rest near the stone, and was threatened by Tamamo-no-Mae. Genno performed certain spiritual rituals, and begged the spirit to consider her spiritual salvation, until finally Tamamo-no-Mae relented and swore never to haunt the stone again.

In literature[]

In Matsuo Bashō's famous book, The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Oku no Hosomichi), Bashō tells of visiting the stone in Nasu, located in modern-day Tochigi Prefecture. Today, an area in the volcanic mountains of Nasu (famous for their sulphurous hot springs) commemorates the myth.

Noh play[]

It was adapted to a fifth category Noh play, attributed to Hiyoshi Saami^[1] Based on the legend, a novel titled Tamamo-no-Mae (玉藻の前) written by Kido Okamoto. Subsequently novel was also adapted to anime film in 1967 titled Kyuubi no Kitsune to Tobimaru (Sesshouseki) 九尾の狐と飛丸(殺生石).

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  Entrance of the area

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  Thousand Jizōs (stone statues of Kshitigarbha)

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  Picture by Toriyama Sekien

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  Picture by Yoshitoshi

References[]

• "Station 9 - Sesshoseki". Basho's World. Archived from the original on December 26, 2004. Retrieved February 23, 2006.
• "Tamamo-no-mae (Synopsis)". Enjoying Otogi Zoshi with the Help of Synopsis and Illustrations. Archived from the original on July 10, 2006. Retrieved February 22, 2006.

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