The mystic stone at tsunami tide's highest point...

[kristopher]

The mystic stone at tsunami tide's highest point that saved tiny Japanese village from the deadly wave
Obelisk was erected by survivors of previous tsunamis to warn future generations


This four-foot high stone may look unremarkable, but it is credited with saving the lives of the population of Aneyoshi when the tsunami struck Japan. Carved into its weather-worn rock is a warning - 'Do not build your homes below this point!' - because they would be at risk from floods in a tsunami.

The villagers obeyed the ancient warning and the tiny community of just 11 houses and 34 residents were rewarded with survival at a key geographical point.
'The tsunami stones are warnings across generations, telling descendants to avoid the same suffering of their ancestors,' Itoko Kitahara, a specialist in natural disasters at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, told the New York Times....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379242/Japan-tsunami-Mystic-stone-tides-highest-point-saved-Aneyoshi-deadly-wave.html

Some of the writing on the stones dates from 600 years ago; I wonder how will the warnings we leave for our heirs function 600 years from now? -K

There is a lot more at the link...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379242/Japan-tsunami-Mystic-stone-tides-highest-point-saved-Aneyoshi-deadly-wave.html

[msongs]

1. we will leave them videos of the awful truth nt

[MadHound]

2. Well, once they entomb the Fukushima nuclear facility,

They could etch these words of warning,

"Don't build a nuclear reactor, on the coast, in an active earthquake and tsunami area."

[truedelphi]

13. Be nice if the P G & E people caught the meaning of all this

We have at least one plant, in San Onofre Calif. that is not only in a prime location for a tsunami, but is built to withstand a mere 6 earthquake, in a land where 6.4 has recently happened. (Morgan Hill, 1984)

[phasma ex machina]

3. k&r

[lazarus]

4. why does the headline call the stone "mystic"?

I wonder. It seems rather practical to me. No mysticism involved at all.

[kristopher]

11. I think I understand...

Remember that Japan is a land of animism. The natural world is spiritual, and there are many spots that have a recognized sense of that spirituality. You'll find small shrines or piles of stones in many places, and those are placed by people who, for whatever reason, experienced a sense of the forces of the natural world.

I'd imagine the spot where a people survived a tsunami might fit that profile. In addition to that my feeling would be that these stones are as much event/grave markers as anything else, so for me the use of mystic seems very appropriate.

[lazarus]

14. I suppose the animism angle could fit

but these stones are clearly human-generated. I just think it's a bit "oh, the mystical East", ya know?

[kristopher]

15. Who said they are not human-generated?

Messages about the human existential struggle with life and death that reach across time seems to be at the heart of what mysticism deals with, in my mind.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by ""oh, the mystical East". I've noticed lately it seems to be the vogue for people who know too little of the country or of cultural anthropology to think that "Japanese culture is really the same as ours" and that the perception of difference is somehow an expression of covert racism. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Japanese worldview is shaped by animistic Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, State Shinto and pragmatism. It is therefore distinctly different than anything you'll encounter in the west. Of course there are universal aspects of culture, but the amount of variation possible within the bounds of that universal structure is very, very large. In the range of cultural variation you'll be hard pressed to find a culture more diametrically opposite our monotheistic/expansionist model than Japan.

[catabryna]

5. There is nothing mystical about the stones...

and this is not the first time this has been posted at DU. These were real life human beings who left warnings to those who were to come after them.

Oh, wait... it's the Daily Mail... I digress...

[AsahinaKimi]

6. So cool,

Thanks for posting..

[Canuckistanian]

7. It's about time new stones were put into place

Modern civilization hasn't figured out that nature has a way of destroying everything in it's path in certain areas.

It's time to heed the wisdom of the people who survived there for THOUSANDS of years, not just a few decades.

[cliffordu]

12. Sorry, but I beg to differ....

nature doesn't destroy anything, just wipes the occasional slate clean.

[Posteritatis]

16. Try telling the slate that. (nt)

[Teaser]

17. nature destroys everything.

.

[KittyWampus]

8. the article said the tsunami stopped 300' from the stone.

[reggie the dog]

20. i think they meant 300 feet from the stone along the road

but the way they wrote it you can also understand 300 feet lower in altitude

[kristopher]

21. I got something else entirely

The marker shown is at the point along the coast where the tsunami reached its highest surge point; as opposed to say, Fukushima NPP where it was about 45 feet high. I didn't take it mark the exact high water mark but I can see the ambiguity in the way that sentence was written.

[catgirl]

9. Interesting story about the stones n/t

[lumpy]

10. Great story.

Thanks

[GeorgeGist]

18. Mystical ...

like a STOP sign. Sigh!

[MedleyMisty]

19. We can erect a stone somewhere

That says "Do not allow corporations to take over your government."

[kristopher]

22. I think this captures it present day