S P O T ／ SPOT-318

Tojindaba Site (Tojin-ishi Megaliths)

唐人駄場遺跡（唐人石巨石群）とうじんだばいせき（とうじんいしきょせきぐん）

Near the southern tip of Shikoku, on a high coastal terrace above the Pacific, the Tojindaba site is two things at once — and refuses to settle into either. It is a genuine archaeological site, yielding stone tools and pottery shards spanning from the Early Jomon period (around 5000 BCE) into the Yayoi era. And it is a field of granite giants: on the ridge beside it stand the megaliths of Tojin-ishi, some 6 to 7 meters tall, with stones arranged in a sweeping arc that has been described as a stone circle measuring roughly 185 by 160 meters — which, if ever confirmed as deliberate, would be remarkable in scale. Among them are named stones heavy with implied intent: a "Turtle Stone" said to point due south, a jagged "Demon's Kitchen Knife." In 1993 the local board of education studied the rocks for signs of sun worship and even a possible Jomon-era beacon. Geologists will tell you this is simply what granite does when joints and weathering have eons to work; the megalith enthusiasts will tell you something older and stranger. Standing among the stones with the ocean below, you are free to believe whichever you like — which is exactly the appeal of the southernmost mystery in Shikoku.