Oni no Manaita and Oni no Setchin (Granite Remains in Asuka Village, Takaichi County, Nara Prefectur (鬼の爼・鬼の雪隠)
The Oni no Manaita (Devil's Chopping Board) and Oni no Setchin (Devil's Toilet) are remains made of granite located in Noguchi (Oni no Manaita), and in Hirata (Oni-no Setchin) of Asuka Village, Takaichi County, Nara Prefecture.
Details
Oni no Manaita' is located in the hill beside an alameda passing through the field, and 'Oni no Setchin' at the foot of the hill across the alameda. Both of them are tens of meters away in a straight line from each other, but they were originally a stone chamber of one kofun (tumulus) which got separated because of loss of the mound. Originally it was a stone chamber (Oni no Setchin) of a hollowed-out Yokoguchi-shiki Sekkaku (Stone Sarchophagus with Side Entrance) and its bottom stone (Oni no Manaita).
Size
The bottom stone (Manaita [chopping board]) is about 4.5 meters in length, about 2.7 meters in width, and about 1 meter in thickness.
The stone chamber (Setchin) is about 1.5 meters in inner width, and approximately 1.3 meters in height.
Legend says that an ogre who lived in this region called the forest of the wind cheated passers-by and ate them.
It is said that the ogre cooked on the 'Manaita' and relieved himself in the 'Setchin.'
There are a lot of holes on the bottom stone (Manaita), which is evidence of people trying to break it into pieces and taking them away. This is because people wanted to use them as material for stone walls for the construction of Takatori-jo Castle.
Twin-tomb Theory
Seen from the Setchin, the position of the Manaita is a little off from the east side. In fact there was another Manaita in the west of the present Manaita, but they say that it was broken into small pieces for the use of garden stones in the Meiji period. That is to say, Oni no Manaita and Setchin-kofun Tumulus is a twin tomb and the present Setchin is a sekkaku combined with another Manaita which once was on the west side. The broken stones are displayed in the outside of the Museum, Archaeological Institute of Kashihara.