Why do people pray to stones?

If they were trees, it’d be easy to understand. They sprout, grow branches, and bear flowers. You can feel the life in them. Stones, however, are immobile. They’re also mute, and they don’t seem to grow in any way. Despite that, humans have given special significance to stones since time immemorial.

There is a place called Daijin Shrine in Nara Prefecture. It has no inner sanctum, and Mount Miwa towers behind the front shrine. The mountain itself is enshrined as a holy place. Many sacred boulders, called “iwakura,” can be found on the mountain.

The “iwa” in “iwakura” means rock; “kura” means seat. People prayed to these stones, seeing them as places where deities dwell or were welcomed. They did not move the stones; instead, they felt sanctity in them, right where they were.

Now, why stones?

One reason is their rigidity. Humans are born, they age, and eventually die. Trees also sprout, grow tall, and eventually decay. However, from our perspective, these giant stones hardly seem to change over time.

They have always been, since before we were born. And when we leave the world, there they will be. People may have felt echoes of a different era in the face of something as eternal as stone.

At Shiraishi Island, you can find many boulders and crags. For instance, you can see massive boulders in the mountains. The enshrinement hall at Kairyu-ji Temple is also built into a crag, as if cradled by the rock. And then there is Yoroi-iwa; with a surface that resembles armor, it is a nationally recognized natural monument.

Rock tells no tales. Nevertheless, humans have found meaning in its silence, creating stories and offering prayers.

Now, back to the stone at the entrance. Although much smaller nowadays, that rock had an original shape before being quarried. Long ago, at a time before humans, on an island somewhere, it was once part of a larger crag.

What scenery did this stone once grace?