The is a museum on the subject of
gold mining
Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...
in ancient and modern Japan, which is located next to the
Toi gold mine
The was an important gold mine during the Edo period in Japan, located within what is now part of the city of Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture in the middle of the Izu Peninsula. It remained in operation to the mid-twentieth century.
History
Small-sca ...
in the city of
Izu, Shizuoka
is a city located in central Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 30,678 in 13,390 households, and a population density of 84 persons per km2. The total area of the city was .
Geography
Izu is ...
,
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 ...
.
The museum displays reconstitutions of the manufacturing process for gold during the
Tokugawa period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterize ...
, ancient artifacts from the period, explanatory exhibitions about gold processing, and an exhibit of various gold ores from various places throughout Japan.
The museum received some fame for housing the world's largest
gold bar
A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produced ...
, weighing ,
['']The Japan Times
''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History
''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...
''
"Mitsubishi makes record-size gold bar" (17 January 2005)
Retrieved on 18 August 2009 and representing a 2016 value of about 1.1 billion yen (US$9.7 million). The bar obtained an official Guinness record certificate for "The largest manufactured pure gold bar":
[Guinness World Records certificate at Toi Mine Museum]
File:Keicho_gold_coinage_Oban_Koban_Ichibuban_1601_1695.jpg, Tokugawa coinage
Tokugawa coinage was a unitary and independent metallic monetary system established by ''shōgun'' Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601 in Japan, and which lasted throughout the Tokugawa period until its end in 1867.
History
The establishment of Tokugawa coi ...
File:Gold_30g_for_a_860kg_rock.jpg, Relative sizes of an rock ore, and the of gold that can be extracted from it
File:Toi_250kg_gold_bar.jpg, The world's largest gold bar
A gold bar, also called gold bullion or gold ingot, is a quantity of refined metallic gold of any shape that is made by a bar producer meeting standard conditions of manufacture, labeling, and record keeping. Larger gold bars that are produced ...
, at 250 kg, can be seen and touched
File:Small_gold_nugget_5mm_dia_and_corresponding_foil_surface_of_half_sq_meter.jpg, Explanations about gold foil
Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...
References
External links
Official website{{in lang, ja
Museums in Shizuoka Prefecture
Mining museums in Japan
Gold museums
Izu, Shizuoka