Case file · Folklore / legend
Mount Ashitake 'pyramid'
In 1934 the researcher Katsutoki Sakai declared Mount Ashitake in Hiroshima prefecture a 23,000-year-old pyramid older than those of Egypt.
1934 CE · 34.81, 133.06 · status: claim
The account
Sakai, also involved with the Takenouchi Documents circle, pointed to the mountain's regular cone and stones near the summit he read as a 'sun stone' and altar. The claim launched Japan's 'pyramid mountain' lore.
The sceptical view
Geologists see a natural peak; the stones show no worked surfaces that prove construction.