Japan - The Sado complex of heritage mines, primarily gold mines

The Sado complex of heritage mines, primarily gold mines (hereinafter referred to as “the Sado Mines”), is located on the island of Sado in the sea between the Japanese archipelago and the Eurasian continent. Over the course of more than four hundred years, gold and silver mining techniques and methods were constantly being introduced here from both home and abroad and then further developed at the Sado Mines. This gave rise to the formation of a cultural tradition based on an evolving set of mining technologies and mine management system. This tradition, preserved in the form of archeological sites, historic structures, and mining towns and settlements, constitutes exceedingly rare physical evidence of human history that can no longer be found at other mines in the Asian region. The history of gold and silver mining on Sado can be traced back to ancient times; placer mining at the Nishimikawa alluvial gold deposits is considered to be the oldest production method. Full-scale development began in the mid 16th century when the Tsurushi and Niibo mines were opened up using surface mining; with the discovery of the Aikawa gold and silver mine, Sado entered a golden age. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Edo shogunate assembled miners from throughout Japan, and these miners developed advanced technologies for surveying (furigane), mining (kôdôbori drilling method), and smelting (the haifuki cupellation method and the yakikin cementation method). As a result, by the mid 17th century, the Aikawa mine, one of the few mines at the time to be based on kôdôbori, came to occupy an extremely important position as the largest gold and silver mine in Japan. What is particularly significant is the fact that a series of premodern mine management system and mining-related technologies ranging from mining to smelting—for example, methods for extracting gold from silver such as the haifuki cupellation method brought in from the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine (Shimane Prefecture) and the yakikin method as well as manufacturing-based operational formats such as the yoseseriba—were developed on Sado and took root here and that the Sado Mines served as a base from which these techniques and technical expertise were disseminated to other mines within Japan. Another important point is that at the Sado Mines a whole series of processes, not merely the mining and smelting of gold but ultimately the production of a gold coinage system, were carried out and brought to completion at a single mine. The nationalization of the Sado Mines after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 was accompanied by the vigorous introduction of Western mining technology; vertical shafts were dug and the oreconveyancing method was mechanized. Later the mines were sold to Mitsubishi Limited Partnership Company and came under private ownership. Changes and advances in technology proceeded during this period as well, and the mine continued to have a technological impact on the development of mining both in Japan and in the rest of Asia. In the early half of the 20th century, a modern flotation plant and smelting facilities were built that laid claim to being the largest in Asia; with these and other advances the mine was transformed into the most modern mining facility in Japan. Thus, the Sado Mines, which had evolved over a span of more than four hundred years through a series of mining-related technologies and mine management system primarily in the area of gold mining, formed an important underpinning for the socio-economic systems of both the Edo shogunate and the Meiji government. Moreover, because the gold produced at the Sado Mines also had a huge impact on the international economy, which was based on the gold standard, this complex of mining-related sites is also extremely important from the perspective of world history. At present, there still exist on Sado the landscapes formed by placer mining and surface mining around the Nishimikawa alluvial gold deposits and the Dôyû-no-warito outcrop as well as a group of modern mining sites represented by the Ôtate shaft, the Kitazawa flotation plant and the port at Ôma. These sites form an outstanding technological ensemble representing each stage in the introduction and development of mining technologies and mine management system from the early modern period to the modern period. The ongoing introduction and development of mining technology and technical expertise on Sado over the span of more than four hundred years has produced a cultural tradition based on a set of mining-related techniques and mine management system revolving around gold. This tradition is preserved in the archaeological sites, historic structures of the Sado Mines as well as in the mining towns and settlements that still exist. In this way, the Sado Mines, with their widely dispersed archeological sites, historic structures, and settlements related to the gold and silver mines that operated here for some four hundred years, are an outstanding example of Asian mining heritage, where it is possible to observe firsthand the changes in gold mining technologies and mine management system as well as the entire cultural tradition formed by them.