In Sayo no Nakayama, Kakegawa, Shizuoka, people tell of a pregnant woman who died on the road; her spirit dwelled in a stone and wept nightly for her child. Stories of stones that cry at midnight also appear in Tochigi and Nagano. In Hyogo, a stone moved from a shrine was said to cry, longing to be returned. Another branch of tradition holds that praying to such stones calms a child’s night crying. Ancient sources already note the idea of stones that speak and bring calamity, reflecting awe of stone spirits and their rites.