Sesshō-Seki

Sesshō-Seki was a great boulder in the Plains of Battle. No grass grew near it, leaving a great ring barren all around, and animals that approached it died, fell, and rot where they lied. Tales about this stone were often told from the perspective of a traveling priest, the friend of a friend of the teller, and the teller related that this priest saw a fox spirit on the stone, or a woman weeping into her hands. Some said that the spirit was chained to the stone, others that it paced back and forth across the circle, reaching out for help but killing all that it touched. It was said that the stone was all that remains of an oni that plotted to kill the Hantei untold centuries ago. It was slain by the Emerald Champion-a Lion Clan bushi, according to local legend-who cut out its heart and buried the corrupt thing on the plain, sealing it away under a great stone.