Item #: SCP-2937

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: The 113 items composing SCP-2937 are to be stored in 45 standard secure lockboxes in Site-50's High Value Item Storage Facility. Security Clearance Level 2-2937 is needed to remove any item from its lockbox for research purposes or to perform laboratory testings.

REVISION 25/04/2012: SCP-2937-23, -48, -57, -65, -66, -67, -81, -89, -94, -103, -105 and -111 are to be buried at a depth of at least 5 meters in a location no less than 1 kilometer apart from any building inside Area-30. Security Clearance Level 3-2937 is needed to retrieve any of them, and no more than one of the items can be retrieved at once. If new items belonging to SCP-2937 with painted motifs are retrieved they are likewise to be buried near Area 30.

Given the political difficulty in directly acting in the People's Republic of China, efforts are to be focused in disinformation and in indirectly influencing and/or negotiating with the PRC's government. Continuing procedures to dissuade from further public interest in the archaeological history of the Oroqen Autonomous Banner1 are to be carried out. Periodically, specialist papers denying the possibilities of any prehistorical civilization in the wider area are to be published, as are rebuttals to any thesis proposing such ideas. Agents and contacts inside the PRC's government are to lobby for the constitution of nature preserves and for the obstruction of archaeological excavations, further development, and inhabitation expansion in the area.

The highest priority is the location of the missing items and, if possible, their retrieval; otherwise, a strengthening of the measures preventing human activity near the location. For that end, satellite observing and, if feasible, aerial drone exploration, are to be carried on in search for remains of IJA/IJAMEA activities. Human exploration in the area where the missing items are supposed to rest is to be avoided.

If any object with typological similarities with the SCP-2937 items appears in private/public collections/markets it is to be acquired. In the case of discovery in archaeological contexts, a obfuscation and disinformation campaign is to be carried on and the object is to be retrieved.

In the case of the discovery of any number of corpses with blackened sclera and iris but otherwise unidentified cause of death inside the territory of the PRC, the opening of talks with the PRC's government is authorized and Protocol 2937-Yomi is to be carried out.

Recovery of further information on Operation Izanami is a top-priority effort, as is the discovery of the fates of Professor Shimobe, General Okakura, and General Kurata.

Description: SCP-2937 consists of a set of brown to reddish-brown earthenware pottery. The total number of items is unknown; there are currently 113 items under control of the Foundation (39 full pieces and 74 shards; SCP-2937-1 through SCP-2937-113). These items range in size from a 173 centimeters tall jar to a 5 centimeters long shard. Stylistical analysis show the 113 items to belong to a single archaeological culture, termed Xing'an culture. Typological studies have established a continuous succession of 10 styles, divided into Early-Middle-Late Xing'an2. It has also been pointed out the presence of stylistical elements also seen in the Jomon and Chulmun pottery styles3. Thermoluminiscence dating has dated the items to a period from █████ to █████ years before present.

12 of the items (the shards SCP-2937-23, -48, -57, -65, -66, -67, -81, -89, -94, -103, -105 and -111) show illustrated motifs painted with black pigment. The fragmentary nature of the pieces makes their interpretation difficult. Since retrieval, these motifs have been shifting inside their corresponding shard at an irregular pace but averaging around 1 centimeter/year, the pattern moving until a certain point in the shard and then back; every motif seems to have its own fixed pattern of movement. Analysis of the pigment have turned out mostly inconclusive/contradictory results; it is only clear that it doesn't correspond to any known substance.

Recovery: The items composing SCP-2937 were discovered in the northeastern part of the then Xing'an province of Manchukuo (current Oroqen Autonomous Banner) during 1937-1945 by the Imperial Japanese Abnormal Matters Examination Agency (IJAMEA). After the end of the Second World War and the dissolution of the IJAMEA, SCP-2937 (along with a majority of the anomalous objects under IJAMEA control) was transferred to Foundation control and stored in the newly built Site-50 in Kyoto prefecture.

Recovered Documents 2937-1: Correspondence concerning the Hsingan Culture and the Project Izanami

The following documents were recovered alongside SCP-2937 on 1945-10-17. Translated from Japanese.

L-2937-1

L-2937-2

L-2937-3

L-2937-4

L-2937-5

L-2937-6

L-2937-7

October 12, 1937

Dear General Kurata

As per your directives, the gentlemen from the Abnormal Matters Examination Agency have arrived. They immediately started examining the retrieved pottery pieces. Professor Shimobe S. is certain that they are related to the Stone Age pottery from the homeland, but is also convinced that these pieces precede the homeland ones in antiquity. He says that this is proof of the existence of a prehistorical Pan-asian civilization; it may be worth investigating more so as to get more supporting evidence against those who doubt the legitimacy of our Co-Prosperity Sphere (of course, the official line will be that these remains were produced by ancestors of the Yamato race).

Prof. Shimobe has tentatively classified these pottery pieces under the "Hsingan" style.

Sincerely,

General Okakura K.

Sketch attached to letter L-2937-2

July 5, 1940

Dear General Kurata

Last week several large jars with painted motifs were excavated4. According to Prof. Shimobe, the design of these motifs shows remarkable similarity to the homeland's prehistorical designs. This should be taken as further proof of the continuity between the Hsingan people and the Yamato race. Of interest is also a jar with a motif interpreted by Prof. Shimobe as a Hsingan king subduing conquered people. I attach to this letter a rough sketch of this last motif.

Sincerely,

General Okakura K.

Sketch attached to letter L-2937-3

December 19, 1942

Dear General Kurata

We have been periodically unearthing more painted examples of Hsingan pottery. Several of them show what Prof. Shimobe says was some kind of ritual. I'm attaching a rough sketch of what is, according to him, one of the more interesting motifs.

These paintings are truly remarkable: they shift and move around the surface of the vessel, like they were reenacting the rituals they are supposed to illustrate. With those reenactings as reference, and his own ethnographical background, Prof. Shimobe is certain he can eventually reproduce the ritual. He has confidence this ritual may become a powerful weapon for the Yamato.

Sincerely,

General Okakura K.

September 3, 1943

Dear General Kurata

Prof. Shimobe was right: this ritual is truly outstanding. Just by reenacting it upon the subject (a local we had drafted from a nearby village), the subject's eyes turned completely black and, he just dropped dead. Furthermore, we got reports that at approximately the same time several locals from the surrounding villages (including people with whom we had had no contact at all) also died of mysterious reasons, their eyes totally black.

Prof. Shimobe has hypothesized that thanks to this ritual the Hsingan people carved a far-reaching empire; indeed, though there haven't been full excavations yet our troops have found pottery similar to the Hsingan as far south as Chekiang. Further research is needed. I'm attaching an initial draft with several possibilities of weaponizing this effect (I'm tentatively calling this project as Project Izanami), were Prof. Shimobe's theories proven true. For the moment he can only execute the ritual on a couple of individuals per day, but he says that with practice he will be able to expand the effect.

Additionally, one of the colleagues of Prof. Shimobe has shown concern that the Hsingan pottery remains seem to disappear abruptly in the archaeological record, as if the Hsingan civilization had at some point suddenly died. Prof. Shimobe says that it is just an artifact of the shortage of data.

Sincerely,

General Okakura K.

June 26, 1944

Dear General Kurata

I'm distressed to hear about these sudden deaths cases in the homeland. This confirms one of Prof. Shimobe's hypothesis, and it also confirms my fears.

Since of late, the painted pottery had been become more active, the designs being in movement all day; and two weeks ago the ritual was enacted by itself, without input of Prof. Shimobe or of anyone else. Immediately not only some of the drafted locals but even our own troops fell dead, their eyes black. This have been happening once every one or two days since then.

And the fact of these sudden deaths in the homeland has made Prof. Shimobe certain of another of his hypothesis: that this effect determines its victims by race. According to him, when this effect kills a victim, it also kills a number of individuals of the same race, sometimes considerably far away. Reports of cases of these sudden deaths as far south as Shanghai show that the geographical range of the effect is indeed considerably broad (if there is any range at all).

Prof. Shimobe is continuing his research and his practice of the ritual. He may now affect as much as a dozen of individuals at once, and the associated effect may be killing as much as ten times that number.

I think it's safe to say that carrying out Project Izanami is a realistic possibility. We should hurry, however; the tide of war gets more unfavorable to us every day.

Sincerely,

General Okakura K.

June 12, 1945

Dear General Kurata

We are running out of time. These painted pieces have been becoming exponentially more active these last few months. Now the ritual is being reenacted constantly, and had we kept these pieces on our possession every day several dozen of the drafted locals and of our troops would be dying. Even after temporarily burying them and retreating over 50 kilometers, everyday about a dozen persons on our base die. Furthermore, this effect is not only growing stronger; it's also expanding its coverage. There are reports of the associated deaths all over China and the homeland, and they number over twenty times the number of deaths among our troops.

Prof. Shimobe says that not being able any longer to practice can hurt the efficiency, but is confident that if given enough and appropriate human material he can reproduce this effect on a scale without precedents (and without affecting the Yamato people).

Sincerely,

General Okakura K.

September 7, 1945

Dear General Okakura

You are authorized to carry out Operation Izanami. All of our prisoners of war will be sent to your location; you are to use them in their totality. If what Prof. Shimobe says about the results of this ritual of his is true, this should become an attack to dwarf this new weapon of the Americans.

Sincerely,

General Kurata M.

Note: Letter L-2937-7 was discovered in the office of General Kurata and is thought to have remained unsent.

Notes: Professor Shimobe S. was a professor from Tokyo University attached to the IJAMEA. Records show him being sent to the 79th Infantry Division of the IJA, based in northern Manchukuo, in 1937. General Okakura K. was a general in charge of a unidentified regiment of the 79th Infantry Division. After September 1945 there are no more records concerning him and his final fate is unknown. General Kurata M. was an official in the government of Japan from 1934-1945, and is thought to have been a high-ranking officer of the IJAMEA. His fate after September 7, 1945 is unknown.

Addendum 2937-1: On 25/04/2012, Junior Researcher Iijima suddenly died during lunch in Site-50. Her sclera and iris had turned black, and no cause of death could be found. At the same time, █████████ ████, a clerk in ███████, Fukuoka Prefecture, also died of unknown causes and with black sclera and iris. After this incident, inspection of SCP-2937 showed that the painted motifs in the corresponding items were shifting at a pace of around 1 centimeter/hour (the remaining items showed no change). Following this incident, the items with painted motifs were transferred to Area-30.

Footnotes

1. Hulunbuir Prefectural City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China

2. Shimamura T., 1977, "A Reexamination of the Stylistical Evolution of the Hsingan Pottery", Journal of the Department of Eastern Asia Archaeology and History, 15:2

3. Takabe H., 1982, "The Hsingan Culture in the Eastern Asia Context", Quarterly Asian Archaeology, 47:3

4. No complete piece with any painted motif was present in the set of items retrieved by the Foundation.