S P O T ／ SPOT-107

Oshiko Shrine Ishi-no-Hoden

生石神社 石の宝殿おうしこじんじゃ いしのほうでん

Behind the modest hall of Oshiko Shrine in Takasago sits the Ishi-no-Hoden — the 'Stone Treasure Hall' — a single block of Tatsuyama tuff over five meters on a side, carved out of the surrounding bedrock but never fully detached from it. The stone is the shrine's object of worship, traditionally counted as one of the 'Three Wonders of Japan' alongside the salt cauldron of Shiogama Shrine and the heavenly halberd at Kirishima-Higashi Shrine. Because the base appears to float over the standing water in the quarry trench below, it is also called the 'floating stone.' The site is part of a nationally designated historic landmark covering both the worship space and the surrounding ancient quarries — a place where Kofun-era stoneworking, an unfinished monumental cut, and a still-active shrine sit on the same rock.