was a

silver mine Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...

, located in what is now part of the city of

Obanazawa, Yamagata is a city located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 15,237, and a population density of 40.9 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Obanazawa is located in a mountain valley northeast ...

in the Tōhoku region of northern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is now closed, and the site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1966.

Overview

The Nobesawa silver mine was opened in 1457, during the Muromachi period of Japanese history, during the reign of Emperor Hanazono. During the Sengoku period, the mine came under the control of

Mogami Yoshiaki was a ''daimyō'' of the Yamagata Domain in Dewa Province, in the late Sengoku and early Edo periods. Known as "Fox of Dewa". Biography Mogami Yoshiaki was the first son of Mogami Yoshimori ( 最上義守), of the Mogami clan and succeeded hi ...

, and silver from the mine helped to finance his battles against the Date clan. Silver from the mine was paid as tribute to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598, at which time it was claimed that the output of the mine rivaled that of the

Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine The was an underground silver mine in the city of Ōda, in Shimane Prefecture on the main island of Honshu, Japan. It was the largest silver mine in Japanese history. It was active for almost four hundred years, from its discovery in 1526 to its ...

. After the establishment of the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate, the Mogami were dispossessed, and the mine came under the control of Torii Tadamasa, the '' daimyō'' of Yamagata Domain. The Torii clan expanded operations at the mine, opening a new shaft and employing more miners. However, after 1636 the mine came under the direct control of the shogunate. Peak production was achieved during the '' Kan'ei'' era (1624–1645). In 1640, the peasants in Yonezawa Domain were filing complaints and petitions against the shogunate, as runoff from the mine was ruining their fields. During the '' Keian'' era (1651–1652), the output of the mine had dropped to only half of what it was at its peak, and operations were increasingly hampered by groundwater seepage. From 1671 to 1675, large-scale drainage projects were undertaken, but without success, and the mine was thereafter abandoned in either 1689 or 1703. The site is about a 20-minute walk from the "Ginzan Onsen" bus stop on the Osarizawa Municipal Bus from Oshida Station on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

Ōu Main Line.

References

External links

Enjoy Yamagata home page

Cultural Assets of Yamagata Prefecture
{in lang, ja Silver mines in Japan Former mines in Japan History of Yamagata Prefecture Obanazawa, Yamagata Historic Sites of Japan Dewa Province

Overview

See also

References

External links