A large gravestone fit for a sumo wrestler. Just where did this stone come from?

There are actually many ancient tombs in Chiburijima. It is thought that this stone was one of the stones used to block the entrance to the caves of one such tomb.

Chiburijima is a small island in which its inhabitants cultivate its land, row its bows, and capture its fish. Since their day to day lives require a lot of manual labor, it was inevitable that sumo became a popular sport. There is a match held between Dōzen and Dōgo, and it is said that each district has their own sumo wrestler they boast of.

Because of this there are many sumo wrestler graves scattered around the island, but there is one grave in particular lying beside Ikkū Shrine for Manriki Yonekichi. With “man” meaning 10,000 and “riki” meaning power, he lived up to his name, with his possession of super human strength, and went on to wreak havoc not just in Oki but all the way in Izumo City in the mainland. The people of the mainland were so shocked by how powerful Manriki was that they had to find some way to beat him so they hired pro sumo wrestlers from far away to challenge him. Of course, even Yonekichi would lose eventually, possibly resulting in his death at the young age of 25.

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