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The Mystery of Japan’s Yonaguni Monument: Documentary, Facts

Ankit Sethi

August 16, 2024

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Roughly 25m underneath the waters of Japan lies an underwater rock pyramid. No one knows who constructed it and when; however, it exists, accessible to anyone who wishes to go down and investigate. It is known as Yonaguni Monument.

The Japanese archipelago extends for almost 4,000 Km-from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the island of Taiwan in China.

The Yonaguni island is situated at the southwestern’s furthest tip, which is Japan’s most western point, and only 100Km away from Taiwan.

It is pretty diminutive, with a population of only 1700 inhabitants; however, it is famous for hammerhead sharks.

Unraveling the enigma surrounding Japan’s Yonaguni Monument while exploring the captivating landscapes, cultural wonders, and perhaps a hidden secret or two, from the ancient Yonaguni ruins to the modern cityscape of Sapporo.

The Yonaguni Monument

Numerous hammerhead sharks can be found in its water, and they are omnipresent.

It makes divers from all over the world come here and swim with these sharks. Things are usually found underneath the water.

The Yonaguni Monument in japan was discovered as a part of those ‘many things’ found ‘usually’ by the Yonaguni tourism board in 1986.

Though they set out to look for the hammerhead sharks and stumbled upon the Yonuguni monument.

It is widely known that Japan is the hotspot of great tectonic variability. It is located just by the junction of the Pacific and the Philippine Sea plates and, therefore, is home to 10% of the world’s active volcanoes.

Earthquakes are something that frequently occurs here. The coated sandstone rock layer over Yonaguni is intensely fractured due to earthquakes.

A tourist delegate swam under the water, and as he passed over this piled and cracked land, he found this formation and named the territory Iseki Point/ Yonaguni Ruins Point.

He informed the others that he had found a structure that looked like a human-made castle.

A marine geologist, Masaaki Kimura, visited the Yonaguni Monument Japan himself, and what he saw impacted him for the rest of his life.

He is the founder of the Marine Science and Cultural Heritage Research Association that is ardent in order to prove that the Yonaguni Monument isn’t just an art of nature; however, a manmade formation comprising a massive network of buildings, monuments, castles, a stadium, and other buildings, all associated by a complex system of waterways and roads.

Yonaguni Monument Documentary

Soon after kimura’s discovery, clichéd headlines broadcasted everywhere with phrases such as ‘scholars mystified,’ Japanese Atlantis.’

History channel, on its history’s mysteries, created an episode called Japan’s mysterious pyramid,’ which encouraged the notion with slight criticism.

Again on an episode ‘Of lost Cities of the Deep’ of ancient discoveries, they did the same.

The discovery & BBC channels made documentaries supporting the Yonaguni Monument’s natural past.

Conspiracy websites and forums love exaggerating such tales. Amongst the foundations recognized by Dr Kimura is one that he has named Jacques’ eyes. He named it after Jacques Mayol, who did free-diving on the spot.

It is a big round rock with two slides near where the eyes may be; however, it doesn’t appear as a sculpted head, and Kimura does not believe in recognizing it as one of those.

He took a photograph of the Yonaguni Monument; personally, he opposes the eyes being cut; however, the rest of the stone is natural.

An entirely different photograph circulating on the internet depicts three divers swimming over a ginormous stone head that is evidently manmade, with a feathered crown.

It doesn’t matter what the starting point of the photograph is, and it holds no similarity whatsoever to the rock at Yonaguni, regardless of it being so popular on every site.

Open sunlight is the main ingredient to Dr Kimura’s theory; the theory states that the formation occurred on dry land when ocean levels were low during the last ice age.

According to him, the Yonaguni Monument was dry and low 8-10,000 years ago; and before that, it was high and dry.

This argument is more likely to be of a greater deal for the documentary makers, who are looking for the point of dispute in order to stimulate the idea of such controversy, endeavouring to prove that the scientist is divided or arguing over this. However, they aren’t!

Some support Kimura’s theory; however, no one is ready to validate the theory.

A geologist named Dr Robert Schoch from Boston University is the most renowned scientist that supported the opposition.

He is well known for his work on allocating Egypt’s Sphinx and Great Yonaguni Pyramid dates that are much more primitive than previously assumed, centred on his study of endurance.

Schoch is a bit of an eccentric, and very few geologists or archaeologists have found Kimura’s images and understanding to be convincing enough to work on.

Schoch has dived under the water a few times; on the other hand, Kimura dived a hundred times.

The region’s geologic features are distinguished, and Schoch carried samples of the Yonaguni rock outside for examination.

He discovered that they were, as anticipated, sandstone and mudstone of the structure called Lower Miocene Yaeyama Group, which added up 20 million years ago.

Recently, Dr Kimura has admitted that the basic structure of the Yonaguni Monument is possibly manmade. However, they stated that humans had transformed it, therefore concocting particular details such as Jacques’s Eyes and the roads.

He has discovered and recognized what, in his opinion, was quarry marks and writing.

Yonaguni Monument Diving

Yonaguni Monument diving site is a gemstone for the divers at Yonaguni Island. A local diver named Kihachirao Aratake runs the dive shop here.

The access is thru a small tunnel via the rocks. As you reach the tunnel’s surface, you’d see two massive lumps of rock, perfectly built columns, side by side, right in front of you.

After you are done exploring the monument’s platform, the dive generally ends with a swim around the broad channel.

On the other hand, a coral ridge where you’re expected to find some moray eels and turtles.

Yonaguni Monument Mystery

The Yonaguni Monument mystery reveals an intriguing and breathtaking aspect of our planet’s underwater past. This amazing underwater rock formation sits off the shore of Yonaguni Island in Japan, and it has long captivated scientists and amateurs alike.

The Yonaguni Monument is a tribute to the wonders of our planet’s buried depths. Some people believe it to be a naturally occurring geological feature, while others theorise that it might represent the remains of an old civilization.

Its underwater location and Yonaguni complex, step-like structures contribute to its attractiveness, inspiring awe and curiosity about the mysteries that lie just below the surface of the ocean.

The Yonaguni Monument invites us to explore and enjoy the complex tapestry of history and geology that lies beneath the seas, serving as a reminder that our world still has secrets that have not yet been fully discovered.

Yonaguni Monument Hieroglyphs

A significant form of proof linking Yonaguni with other Paleolithic sites could be found in situ discoveries of stone bars with paleo Sanskrit scripts.

The scripts were decoded over a decade ago by linguistic and inscription expert K. Schildmann.

The paleo-Sanskrit language has been identified positively and interpreted from hieroglyphic inscriptions on stone artefacts recovered by divers exploring the Yonaguni Monument.