We don’t need to draw your attention to the large, heavy stone placed right in the middle of the walkway to Zenkoji. It’s hard to miss. It’s not from the “cho” stone series, but it has a story of its own.
A long time ago, there was a lumberjack who lived near Zenkoji. He would go to the mountains and cut down timber day after day. One day, he sat down on a tree he’d just cut down to take a rest when the tree he was sitting on started to move. He realized that it wasn’t a tree at all-- it was a giant snake! Without skipping a beat he swung his ax down onto the snake, killing it in a single blow. The giant snake gazed into the eyes of the lumberjack as it took its final breath.
It took him a few moments to calm down, but once he did he took a closer look at the dead snake lying before him. It was incredibly large and magnificent. That’s when he thought, “I could make a lot of money showing this snake off.” So he carried the giant snake down the mountain and started displaying it outside of Zenkoji, and he quickly made a lot of money.
However, the lumberjack’s fortune soon turned to disaster. He suddenly fell ill and died just a few days later, followed by his wife and children. The curse seemed to spread to his neighbors, who became terribly ill. The villagers who saw this unfold decided they better place a tomb at the temple to pay respect to the snake and hopefully stop the curse. They also placed a mound outside of Zenkoji for extra precaution and to mourn the snake’s spirit.
They say that the stone will curse you if you try to move it, so naturally, there are no plans to move it.
