Japanese lifting stone locations

Japan might have one of the richest stonelifting histories out of any country, boasting thousands of stones across the entire country. We don’t know the exact number, but it’s over 15,000!

Locally, these stones are generally known as 力石 chikaraishi, meaning power stone, strength stone, or lifting stone. There are other names for these stones, but 力石 is the most common.

Since there are so many Japanese lifting stones, our directory prioritizes stones that are historically interesting, liftable, or in popular areas.

Before going out and lifting any Japanese stones, make sure you’re familiar with stonelifting etiquette.

A significant amount of Japanese stones lie in the precincts of shrines and temples. These are sacred places, so you should be extremely considerate of other people in the area. Consider purifying yourself at purification fonts and praying before lifting any stones.

Our directory features 13 lifting stone sites across Japan.

Are we missing any stones? Let us know by contacting us!

One of the main goals of the liftingstones.org project is to create and maintain a directory of all the stones people want to lift – including the locations of each stone.

In the past people located stones by getting directions from other people who knew where they were. Now we have easily accessible maps and GPS at our fingertips, so we’ve gathered information from the community and put together an interactive map containing each stone that we know of!

Using our directory and map, it’s easier than ever to find each stone and plan your trip to each lifting site!

Each time we add a new stone to the map, our directory updates too!