Shokushu Forest 5
The cave doesn't look that interesting as you approach it. Just an opening in the rock wall. True the markings around the entrance give a vague impression that they could have been carved pictures or writings at one time, but if so millennia of rain and wind have eroded them to obscurity. And such imaginings are just the fanciful wanderings of a mind still disturbed by what you recently witnessed in the forest .... aren't they?
Entering the cave you find it goes back further than you thought, and in the dimly phosphorescent light you can see that there are definite carvings on the walls. You take in the faded etchings ... creatures from mythology half-man, half-bull, centaurs, elves and other strange beings coupling with each other in a bizarre sexual frenzy .... a frieze of half-seen images leading you deeper.
Towards the rear of the cave the walls narrow abruptly as though some long-forgotten shift in the structure of these hills had almost closed the way off forever. Just a narrow gap remains between the rocks but you manage to squeeze through with only the loss of a shirt button and follow the passage as it twists on and downwards. Fascinated by the dimly seen carvings you keep walking for what seems like hours until you finally see a patch of light ahead.....