Is turning into stone as a result of waiting for someone for a long time derived from Japanese legend?


This concept is used in _Windaria_ and an early episode of _Pokémon_ (Episode
20: "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak").

Did it come from a Japanese legend I'm not familiar with, did it come from the
_Windaria_ novel, or is it just a Kunihiko Yuyama thing?




Stone legends are indeed pretty common just as TurkeyFried stated. Most of
these are based on _loyalty_ towards a person (most common in anime is waiting
for a loved one).

It is said that the petrifaction version originates from Vietnam

> Hòn Vọng Phu (Statue of Husband Waiting)

But nowadays in TV shows and such they give their own meaning to it and
reasoning.

You can [check this
out](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IWillWaitForYou) for some
more examples of this phenomena.

