The hidden stones of Japan
As we come to the end of one of the worst UK summers in memory and watch the Autumn Equinox fly by, the days are drawing in and leaves are covering the ground. I won't quote Ned Stark, but the writing is on the wall.
After last month's Donald Dinnie Day special, we're back to the regular format. Here's your list of topics, feel free to jump around to the ones that interest you most:
- The Hida Folk Village lifting stones
- Last month's special edition letter
- 力石総社 - Soja's stonelifting competition
- Stonelifting report on BBC Scotland
- All past newsletters archived
- Quick-fire updates
The Hida Folk Village lifting stones
For over a year, I've been battling with an article. An article I've pushed back at least twice. An article I've shelved and re-written more times than I can remember. An article I've finally published.
What happened? Writer's block. Every single word I placed on the page looked wrong. Nothing worked.
The classic liftingstones.org article format – where I talk about a stone's history, what makes it interesting, and where to find it – didn't work at all. The first draft felt similar to the long forgotten "article" I once wrote about Jakob Kivstad's stone: barren and boring.
Later drafts were forgettable too. These stones don't have a storied history like the Unspunnen stone, and there's no cool legend behind them like Leggstein. I was ready to give up and write about something else.
But, there was still something about these stones that kept drawing me in to try and tell a story, I just didn't know what. It wasn't until the middle of August when I was writing about Donald Dinnie Day that it clicked: This story isn't just about the stones, it's about my journey surrounding the stones and how I came across them in the first place.
So after hitting delete on the previous version of this article, I started with another blank slate. I won't say the words flowed through my fingers – far from it. But this is my story of a pair of lifting stones hidden in the Japanese Alps, and I hope my next story from Japan doesn't take so long.
Last month's special edition letter
Last month's letter about my trip to Donald Dinnie Day 2024 was a bit different from past newsletters, including the past specials focusing on competitions.
It was pretty fun to experiment with a new style and share the experience from my perspective. And I'm glad I decided to send it as a letter instead of publishing it as an article on the main site, it fits so much better. What's more, if I do something similar in the future, we can have a series: In the field.
Would you like to see more in-person reports on stonelifting events and competitions? Feel free to send me an email if you have any feedback or ideas.
力石総社 - Soja's stonelifting competition
Last year, I reported briefly on Chikaraishi Soja, an annual stone holding competition on the west side of Japan's main island. The aim is to lift and hold increasingly heavy stones for 10-seconds until you fail, or until you reach the 180kg Yokozuna stone, where the winner of the competition is decided by the longest hold time.
David "Tamotsu" Dunlap returned to Soja with the Osaka Chickenlegs to take on the challenge and beat their previous bests. He put together a two-part video showing their trip. Part two focuses on the competition itself. Instead of me telling you about it, give the video a watch (there are English subtitles).
Like in the past, everyone can try their might at some stonelifting at Soja – including children! It's wonderful to see families getting involved and enjoying stonelifting at what I believe to be the event's 30-year anniversary!
The Osaka Chickenlegs team all improved on their times from last year, and David has already set a goal for next year to hold the Yokozuna stone for one minute! I'm looking forward to seeing it!
BBC Scotland's stonelifting report
I regularly receive emails from people asking how to get into stonelifting. A few weeks back I opened an email from someone who discovered stonelifting thanks to a report by BBC Scotland.
The video report shows Jamie Gorrian's first-timers and novice competitions that he hosted in late August, highlighting Gemma Doherty's stonelifting hobby.
I think it's just fun; it's that sense of achievement, especially when you first go to try and pick it up and it feels impossible.
It's fantastic to see stonelifting reaching more and more people. And it's especially great to see true novice competitions that people just starting their stonelifting journey can use as a goal.
All past newsletters archived
You may remember at the start of the year I decided to refresh this newsletter a little. Primarily, the decision to switch platforms was to reduce the amount of time it takes for me to produce a newsletter so I could focus more on the content than putting the thing together. Another major factor in my decision to change platform was so that I could archive all of the past newsletters online, allowing people to read backdated issues (and so that I can link to stuff I've written before, like I just did).
Anyway, I had to manually recreate all of the past newsletters and publish them in the new format – copying all the text, formatting it, manually inserting links, adding all the images (why didn't I save them all last time?!), and so on. Archiving these newsletters is a tedious job.
Since January, I'd been able to archive a couple of letters per month when I had bits of time here and there. Then, on a Saturday afternoon a little while back, I managed to find a few hours and decided to just get the rest done and dusted. It wasn't a fun process, but it was worth it.
So, all past newsletters are now live on letters.liftingstones.org! With a total of 27 since 2022 (if you include this one).
The only downside is that the newsletter platform isn't free; it costs me $180 per year to run Letters, and that price increases as the number of subscribers grows. If you enjoy the newsletter and articles, consider grabbing yourself a Dinnie Stones enamel pin. All proceeds go towards running the project (or other stonelifting causes) and you get something nice in return. And if a pin isn't your thing, you can now donate or become a paying supporter of the newsletter (just go to the letters site and sign in with your email)!
Quick-fire updates
- I've added over a dozen stone locations to the liftingstones.org map, including some contemporary lifting sites in Scotland.
Latest articles
liftingstones.org shop
Dinnie Stones enamel pin
Inspired by the world’s most famous lifting stones, this liftingstones.org original pin is perfect for showing off your love of stonelifting by pinning it to your gym bag, clothes, or anywhere else.