Chikara-ishi (Stone-lifting) in Awaji Isl., Hyogo Prefecture

Abstract

The weight-lifting game by using stone is played in the mountain areas in Switzerland and Spain. Also in Japan, it has been played among the people since the Edo era (1603-1867), and it was called "chikara-ishi". Such chikara-ishi' is now found here and there ats hrines and temples in the northern part of Awaji Isl., in Hyogo Prefecture. Those who did this stone-lifting were the young serf named "otoko-shi". In summer, in the evenings, when their work was over, they gathered in a meeting place or a shrine or the ground of a temple in twos and threes and they competed for strength by lifting or practiced carrying stones. But as the change of social structure brought about a decline in the number of people of the "otoko-shi-class", labor became mechanized and the way of recreation was changed, and stonelifting has ceased to be played and only the reminiscence of the past are shown in monuments.