November 7, 2007: Marriage rocks

A nice entry by a blog called deputydog, titled "these rocks rock", this was number one on the hit list. According to the photo's Flickr page,

Nestled against the shoreline near the seaside resort of Futami-ga-Ura, the dramatically picturesque "husband and wife" rocks can be found silhouetted against the background of the deep blue Pacific Coast waters of Japan.

Known in the Japanese language as Meoto Iwa, these rocks have a religious, mythological and popular significance. They are connected with Shime Nawa, a straw rope made of intertwined rice stalks. The rope is symbolic and never used as a bridge. The husband-and-wife rocks celebrate the union of man and woman and the sanctity of the union between husband and wife in the Shinto belief of the people of Japan.

deputydog points out the really amazing part: the rope connecting the rocks (the shimenawa) weighs over a ton and is replaced throughout the year during various ceremonies.

The rocks are not politically correct, however, because they diminish the relative size of the woman, to the measure that she appears a bit dog-collared.

So I suppose that marriage on the rocks is out of the question?

No rope binding the two children-rocks, I see...

argh, its really bugging me trying to figure out the scale of these rocks, there is nothign to compare to, i want to know how big a man is compared to the rope/rocks - if the rope ways a ton.

Fa-, this should do:

Well now, based on these two photographs, looks can be deceiving, especially when viewed through a single lens. The first photo made me think, "Wow, I'd like to see that! That's amazing, and huge!"; realizing only moments later that this is probably the work of some bored Japanese 11-year-old who's handy in rope-making.

I would guess the gate at the top of the man rock is human-sized.

I wonder what the other rocks are thinking.


(Thought balloon) [FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]She may be just a mineral but I bet she's an animal in bedrock[/FONT]

Elspode;404635 wrote:

So I suppose that marriage on the rocks is out of the question?

I hope not, that would be flippin' awesome.

Why is everyone assuming the big rock is the man??

Katkeeper;404756 wrote:

Why is everyone assuming the big rock is the man??

Trust me, it is.
And it also reflects the traditional (and still mostly prevailing) attitude to marriage in Japan.

Here is another picture showing the replacement of the rope, for scale. The big rock seems to be about 5 meters high or so.

These are about 100 or 150 km from my place, but I've never been there. They're just rocks, they don't do much. Although, at midsummer, the sun rises between them and may even silhouette Mt Fuji in the distance.

Hey now, that's sexist. That could just as easily be a midget hermaphrodite leading around a very tall eunuch.

That's sweet of those guys to have the targets painted so clearly on their backs.

Katkeeper;404756 wrote:

Why is everyone assuming the big rock is the man??

Big rock? Don't you understand, we're all the same height under the surface? It's just that you women make us men... poke up more. And y'all are all wet underneath. Marriage does that.

Quotha!

queequeger;404775 wrote:

Hey now, that's sexist. That could just as easily be a midget hermaphrodite leading around a very tall eunuch.

So... what would they do when they got there?

Katkeeper;404756 wrote:

Why is everyone assuming the big rock is the man??

Why is everyone assuming one is a woman?

They are both wearing Rock Straps. :D

I like to be bound with a little less then one ton of rope in my marriages.

Katkeeper;404756 wrote:

Why is everyone assuming the big rock is the man??

To quote Tiger Tanaka in the James Bond movie "You only live twice":

Tiger Tanaka: Rule number two: in Japan, men come first, women come second.

Almost as valid (for Japan) in 2007 as it was in 1967 I suspect.

I want to see a picture of ZenGum sitting on the rope bridge.

Shawnee123;404777 wrote:

That's sweet of those guys to have the targets painted so clearly on their backs.

Ah. You crack me up!

Shawnee123;404777 wrote:

That's sweet of those guys to have the targets painted so clearly on their backs.

Damn you, that was my first thought!

aero geek;404920 wrote:

To quote Tiger Tanaka in the James Bond movie "You only live twice":

Tiger Tanaka: Rule number two: in Japan, men come first, women come second.

Almost as valid (for Japan) in 2007 as it was in 1967 I suspect.

A timely update:

Japan finishes 91st in world gender equality rankings
(Kyodo) _ Japan ranks 91st in terms of gender equality among the world's 128 countries, slipping 11 ranks from a year ago, according to the latest annual report released by Swiss-based think tank World Economic Forum on Thursday.

Full story at http://asia.news.yahoo.com/071108/kyodo/d8sphj201.html

Love on the rocks...ain't no big surprise

lol @ gravdigr!

(Luckily I'm not on that other forum where you're not allowed to post to tell someone they're funny!) :lol:

Shawnee123;405290 wrote:

(Luckily I'm not on that other forum where you're not allowed to post to tell someone they're funny!)

Share...

TheMercenary;405298 wrote:

Share...

I was referring to Razz's post here. I wouldn't last a minute over there!

(Whited some stuff out in case it would cause any trouble with names and such.)

Thanks, I read a bit of it. Sounds like a pretty harsh place, lots of people from down under and other places than the US which can be refreshing, sort of like this place. It also sounds like there are to many kids on there with to much time on their hands.

Written by: Neil Diamond and Gilbert Becaud

Love on the rocks
Aint no surprise
Pour me a drink
And Ill tell you some lies
Got nothing to lose
So you just sing the blues all the time

Gave you my heart
Gave you my soul
You left me alone here
With nothing to hold
Yesterdays gone
Now all I want is a smile

First, they say they want you
How they really need you
Suddenly you find youre out there
Walking in the storm
When they know they have you
Then they really have you
Nothing you can do or say
Youve got to leave, just get away
We all know the song

You need what you need
You can say what you want
Not much you can do
When the feeling is gone
May be blue skies above
But its cold when youre loves on the rocks

First, they say they want you
How they really need you
Suddenly you find youre out there
Walking in the storm
When they know they have you
Then they really have you
Nothing you can do or say
Youve got to leave, just get away
We all know the song

Love on the rocks
Aint no surprise
Pour me a drink
And Ill tell you some lies
Yesterdays gone
And now all I want is a smile