Height 2.3 meters 7th century
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This stone. together with the anthropomorphic stone carving exhibited in the museum lobby, was unearthed at Ishigami in the Meiji period. It is called the Shumisen-seki ("Mount Sumeru stone") because of its overall shape and also the mountain patterns carved in relief on part of its outer surface. I t was a garden accessory used as a fountain, and a drainage trench and stone pavements have been found in the same vicinity. The Shumisen (Japanese pronunciation of the Mount Sumeru of Buddhist mythology) mentioned in historical records as having been built to the west of the Asukadera and in the Kawara district to the east of Amakashi-no-oka in connection with entertainments provided for Emishi (an ethnic group possibly related to the Ainu) and persons of "southern" origin in the reign of the Empress Saimei (655-661)were probably something of this kind. |
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  construction |
 chart showing  Mountain ridge carved in relief on support for halo behind the Kudara Kannon (Horyuji). |
Structure of the Shumisen-seki Each of the three stones has an inner cavity. Water was drawn up through the bottom, stored inside the lower stone. and made to spurt out on four sides from miniature holes. The center stone is not directly connected with the lower one. and [t appears that there was originally another stone between them. Also, from the structure of the bottom surface of the lowers stone. we can surmise that it originally had another stone beneath it. |
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|TAKAMATSUZUKA KOFUN |THE ASUKA TEMPLES |ASUKA AND THE MAN'YOSHU|
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