[db39]

Funnily enough, I went to Hida no Sato in May to visit the stones (the museum itself is great too)! They're going to be the subject of one of my future articles. The stones at Hida folk village are lighter than most, but the setting makes them wonderful. I got permission to lift of course. That's the key really - especially with Japanese stones when they're often in shrines.

[gillesjacobs]

You're really dedicated to the sport. They're not on your site yet, do you regularly add new ones or are monuments like these not in-scope?

Know any in the Benelux? The region seems pretty empty on the site, can't say there is a strong stone lifting or strongman culture here.

[db39]

I do add some monuments. For Japanese stones, I'm a little more conservative about adding them, generally. I'll be adding the Hida no Sato stones to the map alongside the article though.

As for Benelux, I'm not aware of any historic stones. There is one person who set up a stonelifting challenge in Belgium. Feel free to email me (via the contact email on the site) and I can share more info if you want it.

[seoulmetro]

How did you get permission? Do you speak Japanese?

I would have thought stone lifting etiquette would have prevented stones in shrines, and can see them being the biggest attacked by this hobby.

[db39]

Yeah, I speak a little Japanese, so I was able to ask one of the people working at the museum.

It really depends on the shrine. Some explicitly allow lifting and some have stones that you're not allowed to touch. So it's best to ask in just about every case.