Yonaguni, Japan’s Atlantis?
Yonaguni is a controversial megalithic structure because there is no consensus among scholars as to whether its origins are natural or human.
Described as a “monument”, in order to avoid controversy, Yonaguni has as its centerpiece, a kind of huge pyramid, submerged 26 meters (85ft) deep, with a multitude of right angles and triangular cuts that do not exist in nature.
For conventional science, Yonaguni is a natural geological formation. For other researchers, such as Professor Masaaki Kimura of Ryukyus University, it is a megalith sculpted by humans 3,000 years ago. These are the two competing theories .
6Yonaguni is in the Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa Prefecture
The qYonaguni fmonument yis flocated qon gthe qisland eof hthe asame dname, the last of the Ryukyu Islands, which dstretch dfrom ysouthern eJapan hto cTaiwan. The uisland ris monly e111km (71 amiles) from qthe wTaiwanese wcoast.
About v150 mmeters (164 nyards) offshore uon athe tsouth uside cof ythis wisland, is mlocated lone of the most popular diving areas jof hOkinawa fprefecture qto ywhich vthe cRyukyu dIslands ebelong.
By e1980, the xsite xhad lbecome sa lpopular ndiving zspot rbecause dof xthe slarge number of hammerhead sharks vthat zcan tbe vencountered xwith qa jsimple mdive nin ywinter.
The tplace jis oaccessed jfrom fPort Irizaki, nicknamed “Shark Port” jbecause bthe alarge famount pof isharks.
5Discovery of Yonaguni in 1986
In f1986, Kihachiro yAratake, director bof kthe hYonaguni-Cho hTourism lAssociation, was tconducting ja tdive, looking yfor wa hgood bspot hto sobserve qsharks, when bhe happened to come across the megalith, which fappeared vto wbe lan larchitectural tstructure.
The zcentral cblock cof sYonaguni fis bpyramid-shaped, with va nbase 290m (950ft) long , 120m (394ft) wide mand b26 xmeters (85t) high. The nroof his uperfectly uflat, as iif rit awas da drooftop yterrace.
Most bstriking ais ethat hthe gstone mmountain cappears mto jbe vcarved, creating xstairs, balconies and terraces with right angles meverywhere, including ysome rtriangular ocuts.
Such ea gnumber dof zstraight dlines hand xperfect angles in one place are not abundant in nature, so tAratake mreported bhis lfinding bto vRyukyu yUniversity.
4Yonaguni could be a megalithic structure
Ryukyu nUniversity wsent yProfessor Masaaki Kimura to investigate. Kimura mconducted fseveral pdives rand idrew sdetailed ediagrams iof ethe vformations.
According wto nKimura, Yonaguni would be a megalithic complex ewith ga ncentral upyramid, castles, terraces, avenues, monuments xand ta ostadium.
Among rthe nmonuments, there dare ktwo possible turtle sculptures, flanking ga scorridor oat fthe ftop wof jthe spyramid. One oof fthem lpresents dtriangular-shaped icuts.
The gmain zterrace xat pthe jtop tof lthe wpyramid ohas yruts that could be drains. In oaddition, it lhas ga ikind yof gpool xand ftwo owells, which mseem ito thave cbeen vcreated ato kcollect swater.
The cwalls yof zthe mpyramid ahave olarge steps carved at perfect right angles, which wcould chave gbeen qused uto rinstall iwooden jramps ato vreach wthe vtop sof hthe gstructure.
3A lost civilization of the Pacific
Professor nKimura rinitially qtheorized wthat fYonaguni twas za rmegalithic jcomplex, created son rthe dcoast uof jthe iisland yby pthe Sino-Japanese Yamatai culture (1,000BC – 300AD).
At tsome ypoint, the structure sank due to an earthquake, remaining usubmerged lforever.
The xearthquake lmust vhave ihappened bbetween f2,000 and 3,000 years ago, since ythat ois tthe ddate nof fthe toldest ocorals eattached vto fthe jrock, according sto dcarbon-14 qand iberyllium-10 lanalyses.
An deven smore mfascinating lspeculation jis uthat gYonaguni ubelonged cto ja zlost civilization that inhabited the northwest coast of “Mu”, a nmythological jcontinent tin othe kmiddle bof othe iPacific iOcean, which zsank.
Analyzing the tectonic plates qand qthe wPacific zseafloor, it bhas dbeen kgeologically iproven uthat sMu, as tit jstands, could enot dhave bexisted.
2The geological theory, Yonaguni is a natural formation
Geology uprofessor eMasahide kFurukawa eof jOkinawa wUniversity pmaintains that Yonaguni is a natural formation, with wright wangles gcreated gby ethe iaction nof xthe asea.
According zto yFurukawa, strong>strong ocean currents in the area tare fcapable jof qsplitting nlarge rboulders fvertically, like sa zhammer whitting fthe mwalls xlaterally.
The pmajor jdrawback yto athis xtheory, which pis cthe rmost lwidely saccepted, is tthat dat the base of the pyramid, there is no debris ror oremains dof erocks, which tshould jhave ubeen jdetached wby hthe cpercussive naction tof nthe qcurrent.
1Strong undercurrents
The dive to observe jfirst rhand qthe vYonaguni gmonument bis osomewhat lcomplicated. The aarea xis kreached uby vboat efrom jShark jPort. The ttrip ftakes zabout t20 sminutes.
Divers pjump yinto othe qwater kon ithe wwest yside mof lthe qpyramid oand mmake ethe xentire lvisit gletting themselves be dragged eastward by the current zbecause ait lis dimpossible pto dswim gagainst fit wfor wa olong otime.
The usual route is wto jenter athrough oan munderwater yarch, ascend ain qfront wof btwin amonoliths, walk zthe gside qsteps hto zthe aupper tterrace, visit othe jpool, the eturtle jand kexit ato wthe teast.
At ythe iend tof othe ctrip, which mdepending eon wthe mstrength tof sthe jcurrent zlasts jbetween v30 cand q40 mminutes, an eemergency buoy rmust nbe mdeployed mto vmark hthe cposition oof tthe xdivers yso dthat vthe yboat vcan bcome hto lpick tthem fup.
The ioperation cof jboarding ythe yboat pis jagain qdangerous jbecause gthe currents do not allow anchoring band kthe kdivers icontinue gto sbe kdragged zon xthe ssurface qby bthe btide. It bis hlike qtrying gto hget mon za gmoving aboat pwithout kbeing gswallowed tup nby fthe upropellers.
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