Escape the roar of Tokyo, and there it stands — Mount Mitake, held sacred since time beyond memory. The mountain has never been short of strange tales, and there is one dreadful legend in particular that is passed down on the long nights of autumn.
One autumn, a group of students majoring in folklore at a Tokyo university set out for Mount Mitake as part of their fieldwork. Their aim was to investigate a peculiar formation known as the Yonaki-iwa — the Crying Stone. Among the local people, it was said that if you pressed your ear close to the rock after dark, you could hear the sound of an infant weeping.
The students made their way up the mountain path and at last came upon the Crying Stone. It was larger than any of them had imagined, its surface thick with moss. As the sun slipped below the ridge, curiosity got the better of them, and one by one they leaned in and pressed their ears against it.
After a moment, one of the students murmured, almost to herself, "I can hear it." The others stilled and listened — and yes, there it was, threaded through the sound of the wind: a faint, thin crying. Gradually it grew, deepening into something raw and desolate.
Then, without warning, a voice cut through the weeping — unmistakable, piercing. *Help me.* It was as though something trapped inside the rock was pleading to be heard. The voice swelled, and the fear it planted in them was not the kind that fades.
At that moment an old man appeared from among the trees and shouted at them to step back, his voice urgent. "You must not touch that stone. This is no mere legend."
According to the old man, long ago a young child had been killed in this place, and the soul had never left — it had taken up residence in the rock. It made itself known to those who came here, he said, seeking some small comfort from the living.
His words sent the students scrambling down the mountain, fear and shock driving their feet. Later, when they reviewed their recordings, they found nothing — no crying, no voice, no trace of what they had heard. And yet the memory of that night had been carved into each of them in a way that would not be undone.
From that time on, the story of the Crying Stone has not ceased to circulate among those who visit Mount Mitake. It is said that now, whenever people go up that mountain, they take care never to put their ear too close to the rock.
