Original subtitles

Aji Village, Shikoku Island, Inland Sea of Japan.

Here lie the Aji-shi Mountains, whose granite is said to be

the strongest and loveliest in all Japan.

In the foothills,

some 1,200 stonemasons guard the Aji stone,

as they have for more than 300 years.

They are born into the sound of chisels.

They grow up in the stone yards, as their mother's polish stones.

In old age they craft their own gravestones,

then sleep beneath them.

The Song of Stone

Photographs by Y. Ernest Satow

Music by Kuniharu Akiyama

Sound Engineered by Okuyama Junosuke

Written by Masayuki Nagare

Directed by Toshio Matsumoto

Produced by Tokyo Broadcasting Systems, Inc. & TBS Vision Incorporated

Some are crushed by the stone, some are killed.

Yet those who sculpt the living stone have no ill-will toward it.

They call the quarry "The office."

Here they have enshrined many gods.

Inside, the men who face death pray in the face of it, and cut the stone free.

Do they know the sadness of the mountain as its stone is cut out?

All praise the stone.

All praise the stone.

All praise the stone.

Surprisingly, when the stone is cut and given form,

the carvers murmur, over and over,

"The stone is alive... the stone is a living thing."

Since ancient times the masons have referred to chiseling as “killing"

and polishing as "reviving."

They say the neatly stacked stones have a "warm shape,"

and when stonework is finished, it isn't something "made,"

instead they say it was "brought to life."

Stone and water.

The stone calls to water, greets the rain.

It shows the colors of its skin.

Is it that the stone never betrays?

Is it that the stone guards the hearts of men?

Man's faith in the stone never wanes.

It becomes his salvation and home.

The Song of Stone End

Photographs by Y. Ernest Satow

Music by Kuniharu Akiyama

Sound Engineered by Okuyama Junosuke

Written by Masayuki Nagare

Directed by Toshio Matsumoto

Produced by Tokyo Broadcasting Systems, Inc. & TBS Vision Incorporated