Oni no Manaita and Oni no Setchin (the Ogre's Chopping Board and Toilet)

A chamber in pieces

These stones are the stone chamber of a 7th-century kofun (ancient burial mound), now split into separate parts.

The flat stone on top of the hillside is called Oni no Manaita, "the Ogre's Chopping Board," and the house-shaped stone lying by the road below is Oni no Setchin, "the Ogre's Toilet." The two belong together: they were once a single chamber.

How it was built

Two large blocks of granite were used. The lower one was hollowed out to form a room for the body, and the upper one was carved into the shape of a house roof to serve as a lid. This kind of chamber is called a stone box with a side entrance.

The Setchin is that lid. It rolled down the slope and now lies upside down where it stopped. Look inside and you can see the hollowed-out surface of the room just as it was carved. A part normally hidden inside a tomb is facing out.

The Manaita is the base stone. It remains on top of the slope with its flat face showing.

The vanished mound

The earth mound is long gone, and only the stones remain. It is thought to have been square, but its size is not known.

There is another base stone on top of the hill, and several kofun are thought to have stood in this area.

Where the names come from

The names come from a legend. An ogre living here would call down mist to make travellers lose their way, cook the people it caught on its chopping board and eat them, and then relieve itself in its toilet.

Ishibutai, Kameishi, Kinchōzuka: in Asuka, villagers have given names to stones whose purpose they did not know. These names, quite separate from scholarly terms, are still in use today.

Visiting

The site is managed by the Imperial Household Agency, and you cannot go close to the stones themselves. You view them from outside the fence.

About 10 minutes on foot from Kintetsu Asuka Station. Just to the north is the tomb of Emperor Kinmei, with the tomb of Princess Kibihime, known for the Saruishi (Monkey Stones), beside it, and to the southeast is the tomb of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. You can walk to them all on the way from the station.