It is said that the Golden-furred Nine-tailed Fox, which had brought the Imperial court into a stupor as "Tamamo-no-Mae", transformed itself into a stone with its magical power after it was exterminated in Nasunogahara, Shimotsuke-no-kuni.
However, even after it turned into a stone, its magical power did not diminish, and it is said to have spewed out such malice that it would cause people to die.
Legend has it that the Killing Stone killed anyone who passed by it, be they man or beast.
It is said that Gennou, a Buddhist priest passing by this area in the Muromachi period (1336-1573), saw a flying bird fall to the ground, and when he realized that it was caused by the magical power of the Nine-tailed Fox, he crushed the stone with his dharma power. The shattered stone's fragments are said to have flown to various places, where it continued to spit out malice, and the places where the stone is said to have flown to can still be found today.
According to the Noh play concerning the legend of the Killing Stone, a woman appeared to the priest Gennou, who became suspicious when he saw a bird falling from above, and told him that the stone here was the Killing Stone and that he should leave because it would kill him if he approached it. But the truth was that this very woman was the spirit of the Killing Stone, the shadow of what once was the Golden-furred Nine-tailed Fox.
The priest Gennou felt sorry for the woman, and when he held a memorial service for her, the Killing Stone shattered, as the fox spirit's soul rested peacefully, and no longer emitted its poisonous air.
The Killing Stone still exists today in Nasu Town, Tochigi Prefecture.
In front of the site is an area called "Sai-no-kawara (Riverbed of Death)", which since ancient times has been a place where toxic gases such as sulfur and zinc acid gas have spewed out, causing harm to the people.
It is for that reason that this legend was created.
The famous Bashou Matsuo also visited the area and wrote a haiku entitled "The Stone's Malice Yet Remains", it goes as follows:
Incense of stone and Reddened summertime grass Warmed tears of dew
[The haiku is relating the deaths caused near the Killing Stone to the sulphuric hot springs of the area (incense of stone) and fresh blood (reddened grass and warm dew).]
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