Aji Village, Shikoku Island, Inland Sea of Japan
Here lie the Aji-ishi Mountains, whose granite is said to be the strongest and loveliest in all Japan
In the foothills, some 1,200 stonemasons guard over the Aji stone, as they have for more than 300 years
They are born into the sound of chisels. They grow up in the stone yards, as their mothers polish stones
In old age they craft their own gravestones, then sleep beneath them
The Song of Stone
Photographs by Y. Ernest Satow
Music by Kuniharu Akiyama
Sound Engineered by Okuyama Junosuke
Written by Masayuki Nagare
Directed by Toshio Matsumoto
Produced by Tokyo Broadcasting Systems, Inc. and TBS Vision Incorporated
Some are crushed by the stone, some are killed
Yet those who sculpt the living stone have no ill will toward it
They call the quarry “the office”
Here they have enshrined many gods
Inside, the men who face death pray in the face of death, and cut the stone free
Do they know the sadness of the mountain as its stone is cut out?
All praise the stone
Surprisingly, when the stone is cut and given form,
The carvers murmur over and over,
“The stone is alive… the stone is a living thing”
Since ancient times the masons have referred to chiseling as “killing”
And polishing as “reviving”
They say the neatly stacked stones have a “warm shape”
And when stonework is finished, it isn’t something “made”
Instead they say it was “brought to life”
Stone and water.
The stone calls to water, greets the rain. It shows the colors of its skin.
Is it that the stone never betrays?
Is it that the stone guards the hearts of men?
Man’s faith in the stone never wanes
It becomes his salvation and home