In the quiet hills of Japan , the “ Rock Ship of Masuda ” can be found blot out among the bamboo looking as if it ’s just crash - landed from another major planet . Despite its strangely smooth surface and angular indent , the structure has been around for centuries , although its original determination has been long - forgotten .
Bar theodd holidaymaker web log , very trivial information about the strange rock is published in English . It’slocatedjust a 15 - bit paseo from Okadera Station on a forested mound near an uncomplicated school in Kashihara , Nara Prefecture .
The region is know for its chip at granite Stone , many of which are fashion into the shape of human - similar digit and brute . It ’s changeable when they were made , but some have reason they were built around the 7th century CE towards the end of the Kofun period .
North side of the granite structure. Image credit: Saigen Jiro/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
jointly , the artworks are known as the Stoneworks of Asuka . They ’re particularly interesting as they place upright in dividing line to the predominant way of Buddhist prowess that sweep throughJapanat the time .
The Rock Ship of Masuda , aka Masuda - no - iwafune , is the most strange and great of them all . The cut up stone measures 11 meters ( 36 infantry ) in length , 8 metre ( 26 feet ) in width , and 4.7 meters ( 15 feet ) in height – roughly comparable to the size of a sumptuosity tour bus .
Its unusual shape and sizing are especially telling when you realise it was made out of granite , a notoriously tough rock and roll that ’s extremely difficult to cut and carve . Along with the straight cutting indents on top of the rock ‘n’ roll , it also have a square scale - similar rule on the side that ’s also been on purpose carved .
hoi polloi have dreamt up a few theory about why the rock was carved . As isoften the casewith unexplained archeological finds , some have reflect it was used for star gazing and uranology . A more likely explanation is that it played some kind of phantasmal function , perhaps relating to the burial or celebration of the decease .
Truth be told , however , the story of the Rock Ship of Masuda is still largely a closed book .
[ H / TArkeoNews ]
