Short Stuff: The Killing Stone | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff Josh. here Chuck here let's gety up all the. way to Japan that's right we're going to. Japan to talk about a very famous rock. in Japan that split in in. 2022 and uh there was a tweet that kind. of got big that featured a picture of. that broken rock MH uh that said and. this is translated from Japanese uh I. came alone to The Killing Stone.

where the legend of the nine-tailed fox. remains if it's a 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 let's go let's talk about this. famous rock okay so yeah this this uh. person who tweeted that was a tourist in. toichi prefecture in Japan and she was. visiting this very famous giant rock um. that supposedly was the um dead form of.

the fox Spirit T tamamo. nayi and um supposedly tamamo nay had. been trapped for centuries in this rock. that people like the Tweeter would go. visit the thing is when the Tweeter went. to visit it this rock had been split in. two and that meant possibly that tamamo. nayi had escaped right and the idea was. that tamama nayi was trapped in this. stone called the.

uh shes SEI is that right uh SES SES SEI. mhm all right which is killing Stone Y. and here's the thing is the internet. kind of got it wrong if you look at the. original lore of the story uh tamamo. nayi was actually the stone and not. trapped in the stone sure so let's talk. about this okay further so keep doing. setups right tamamo nay uh was a a very.

famous um Spirit ninetail Fox spirit in. Japanese folklore and she showed up in a. number of different myths and Tales um. in Japanese folklore but there's one in. particular that concerns the story um. and it involved the emperor Toba the. 74th Japanese emperor who is a very real. person who lived from 1103 to 1156 CE. and during this rign uh allegedly. according to polor tamamo noi the fox.

Spirit showed up disguised as a woman. and said I think you're going to like me. check me. out that's right the idea was to um just. sort of preoccupy and bewitch this. Emperor and then overthrow uh overthrow. the emperor um what happened as. according to lore once again is that the. emperor was enthralled sort of neglected. his duties and then fell very very sick. around the same time so a soothsayer. came along and said wait a minute I.

suspect that you tamama nayi are behind. this whole thing and so uh she fled into. you know the land surrounding there um. basically it's Mount nasu M and uh the. legend was that uh they caught up to her. um she was slain and that her body. turned into the stone at that very spot. right um so it's very significant that. it was a group of Samurai who tracked. her down and killed her sh with an arrow.

because um folklorists believe that this. tale of tamam Mo nayi enchanting the. emperor and basically causing him to. stop paying attention to his um duties. uh is a some sort of allegory I guess. for What's called the Hogan Rebellion. this time when um the the emperor's rule. gave way to rule by the samurai which. lasted for centuries afterward um and so. that this was kind of a about that story.

maybe Justified it I'm not sure but the. essential ingredients are that the. emperor uh was Bewitched and helpless. and had to be saved by the samurai yeah. and it was you know there were a lot of. this is just one of many many stories in. Japanese folklore wherein uh monsters. would appear a hero would rise up to. save uh somebody it was usually uh. metaphor for you know something. politically that was going on right uh. and maybe I say we take a break I think. I agree with you sure all right we'll be.

right. [Music]. back okay Chuck so where we left off.

tamamo Nami has turned into a giant. Stone and this stone that people would. go visit uh was something like 6 feet. tall and 25 ft in. diameter uh it was no small Stone it. sounds like it was shaped kind of like. Slimer from. Ghostbusters yeah and I think that was. circumference by the way what did I say. diameter. circumference thanks um so people would. go visit this and one of the reasons why. that this Stone in particular came to be.

identified as the sesos ski The Killing. stone is because it really kind of stood. out from its it's the other stones in. the area you could just pick it out and. be like that looks cool and then the. actual area itself on um the mountain. what was the Mountain's name uh namasu. nasu Mount yes Mount nasu um is it's. like a volcanic plane there's active. volcanoes in the area so there's like.

poison gas like spewing up out of the. Earth around the stone it's quite. menacing in that sense especially if you. know what the legend is and you're. looking at the stone as if it were the. killing Stone yeah so there are. potentially some poisonous gases uh. sulfuric gases that seep out of the. ground in that area um while it's it's. nothing that would hurt a human uh if. you went to this you know Stone which. really stands out and looks weirdly out. of place there uh uh and you found like.

some Dead Squirrels laying around it. could lend itself to the idea that. either Josh was nearby no or that an. evil spirit uh could radiate death from. that spot and this is a very very. well-known story I don't think we said. that it was uh you know it was part of f. folklore and there are a lot of these. stories but this seems to be one of the. bigger ones and it's kind of like a. universally known Tale in Japan yeah um. so it's a very very famous story uh and. so you know when this thing split it was.

you know the internet goes a little Hog. Wild for a short time talking about. whether or not the evil spirits will be. Unleashed and whether or not this is all. coming to fruition uh apparently if um. you do like uh on the ground research. and talk to Japanese people they're like. we don't really think that of course we. don't this is the internet being the. internet yeah and in addition to that. over the years initially tamamo nayi was. um depicted as just nothing but evil uh.

a corruptor of men and usurper of male. power yeah and then as Japanese Society. kind of softened and um um uh progressed. progressed uh in its stance on women uh. she actually evolved along with that. interestingly so that now today when she. used in like manga or anime or something. like that um she's usually kind of like. a Proto feminist anti-hero is how this. article from how stuff works put it I. think L yeah totally and uh you know of.

course nothing happened because it's. folklore uh but I imagine it's still and. apparently this is a big thing in Japan. to um like go visit this thing in the. woods right yeah yeah Ian that seems. like a dumb down way of saying it. because we visit plenty of great things. in the woods as well but you know. smaller things like you know this rock. in the middle of this National Forest uh. becomes like a pretty pretty standard.

tourist attraction yeah and I didn't. realize there was a term for that kind. of Tourism contents based tourism where. it's just the one thing that you're. going out of your way to go see to a. place you probably wouldn't have. otherwise gone like the giant ball of. yarn or something like that you know. yeah well except this is in a national. park which I imagine is beautiful sure I. think it is too uh I have nothing else. except I want to go on the record as. correcting you I love the squirrels now. and I have for years and years and years.

I know I'm just kidding okay well Chuck. was kidding everybody that means short. stuff is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts ihart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows. [Music].