戸隠石＜長野県＞ 【日本銘石】

Togakushi stone

戸隠石

日本各地に残る天の岩戸伝説の地の一つ”戸隠山”。
天岩戸が飛来して、現在の形になったといわれます。
修験道の山としても知られ、この地に来ることで「雨乞い」や「犯した罪が消え去る」とも言い伝えられております。
若狭の人魚伝説ともつながっており「人魚の肉を食べると不老不死になる。
失敗すれば怪物になる。
」との伝承があります。
その人魚の肉を食べた女性「比丘尼(びくに)」は800歳まで生きながらえたとされ、彼女に関わる石が今もなお残っています。
漫画や小説でもこの伝説が元となったものがあり、神話が多く残る神秘的な土地です。
石の性質としては、安山岩花崗岩の一種で非常に硬く、黒の中に白い斑点が美しい長野県を代表する銘石の一つです。

Mount Togakushi is one of the legendary places of Ama-no-Iwato that remains throughout Japan. It is said that Ama-no-Iwato came flying over and became its current form. It is also known as the mountain of Shugendo, and it is said that by coming to this place you can pray for rain and your sins will be erased. It is also connected to the Wakasa mermaid legend and it says, “If you eat mermaid flesh, you will become immortal. But if you fail, you will become a monster’’. It is said that the woman Bikuni, who ate the mermaid’s flesh, lived to be 800 years old, and the stones that associated with her still remain today. There are even manga and novels based on this legend, and it is a mysterious land with many myths. As for the nature of the stone, it is a type of andesite/granite and is very hard, with beautiful white spots in the black color. It is one of the famous stones representing Nagano Prefecture.