和訳は英文の下にきますが、現在作業中です。 / The Japanese translation is under construction and will follow the English text.
Travel to Sado Gold Mines
Contents 1. What is Sado Gold Mines? 2. How to get to the Sado Gold Mines 3. Doyu no Warito (a relic of open cast mining) 4. Visit to the Ruins 5. The ruins of the flotation facility
1. What is Sado Gold Mines?
Sado is famous for various reasons. But ask someone, “what do you know about Sado Island?”, the first thing they mention will be: A gold mine.
Actually there were multiple gold mines. A total of 55 mines were operating at one time, and they produced gold, silver, copper and other minerals. At one point, they were the most productive mines in Japan.
The mines in Sado closed in 1989 due to depletion, but some of the ruins have been organized for tourism. One such place is the mines in Aikawa District, and in this post we will tell you mostly about it.
Mines in Sado operated from 1601 to 1989. That covers Edo, Meiji, Taisho and Showa Period, and some even say it reached Heisei Period, too. Emperor Hirohito passed away in 1989, which some consider both the last year of Showa and the first of Heisei.
They pursued the gold veins widely and deeply: 3,000 m (1.86 mi) from east to west, 600 m (0.37 mi) from north to south, and 800 m (0.5 ml) deep, below sea level 530 m (1,739 ft). Total of 15 million tons of minerals including 78 ton of gold and 2,330 tons of silver were produced.
Sado was the largest mining system in Japan. It supported the Japanese economy after Edo Period, and had a significant influence on the life of people, both local and those from outside the island.
2. Travel to Sado Gold Mines
If you visit Sado Gold Mines from the mainland, take a jetfoil (a super speed passenger boat) at Niigata Port, and you will get to Ryotsu Port on Sado Island in about 55 minutes.
If you have extra time and would like to go more cheaply, a car ferry is a choice. It takes more than two and a half hours but you can take a nap. Tatami mat and blanket are available for everyone.*
From the port to the ruins of the gold mines in Aikawa District, you can rent a car, take a taxi for tourists, or a local bus.
By bus, it take about 70 minutes to the last stop, Kinzan Iko meaning the Ruins of the Gold Mine. The service is not frequent but they planned the schedule in sync with the jetfoil arrival and departure times.
You can get off the bus about 10 minutes before the last stop and walk around the historic downtown of Aikawa, the municipal seat, get tourism information, and have lunch. (Note: Many restaurants close at 2PM, and won’t open until around 5PM.)
Other than Aikawa district, Nishi-mikawa District is also a part of the World Heritage. People knew well there was gold sand in the river, but Nishi-mikawa doesn’t seem to be ready to receive tourists yet.
*There is another sea route from the mainland, Naoetsu Port, to Ogi Port on Sado Island. Also you can fly to Sado Airport which is located near Ryotsu Port.
3. Doyu no Warito (a relic of open cast mining)
Get off the bus at the destination, Kinzan Iko, and you will see a small mountain with a strange shape. It is one of the old gold mine, and it looks as if someone had slashed on the top of it with a hatchet. The most famous view in the Sado mines, it’s called “Doyu no Warito (Broken Door of Doyu)”.
Doyu is the name of the excellent gold vein found here in the beginning of the Edo Era. A lot of people pursued the gold by hand-digging, leaving the mountain thus half severed.
4. Visit to the Ruins
We entered a mine called Sodayu Mine which was opened in the beginning of the Edo Period. They dug the shaft in a pentagon shape, which was the character of mines in Edo.
We visited it on a hot day, but after just a few steps down the stone staircase, it felt chilly. Groundwater constantly trickled down the walls, wetting the paved ground.
They had created scenes with near life-size figures to show how people worked and lived in the mine. Panels explained them mostly in Japanese, and a little in English, but even if you don’t understand, it looks interesting.
When we came out of the mine, there was a small museum of the mining history in Sado and the old mining tools and equipments.
5. The ruins of the floatation facility
About one kilometer from here is the site of the Kitazawa Flotation Plant and the thickener facility, both of which closed with the cessation of mining activities. After the operations ceased, weeds grew all over it, and wild animals began to live in the abandoned facilities.
The owner of the mines and the facilities, Mitsubishi, has kept the place weeded and mowed, and now this place looks like a park with ancient structures that alien people built and left behind.
On a sunny day, it is a very nice place to walk, and a popular spot for tourists looking for interesting photographing opportunities. Since the plant and the thickener looks like a flying castle in a famous animation made the 1980’s “Laputa, the Castle in the Sky” (Studio Ghibli), they also call it “Laputa of Sado”.
[End of the English post]
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For more on Sado Gold Mines, please continue to read:
=> 2. Japan’ s Gold Before Sado Mines Opened
=> 3. A Brief History of Sado Mines
