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Iwami Ginzan Iwami Ginzan entrance
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| Path to the mine | The mine | Area around the mine | |
| Iwami Ginzan is an Unesco heritage site. It had been mined since 16th entury and was known for its silver to the world since then. | |||
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Autos are not allowed. The vicinity is steep, the valleys narrow. Adding cars and parking lots would obviously have gutted the beautiful natural landscape. The locals apparently refused to allow it. Hence, visiting the sites requies a time commitment. Just visiting the main shaft consumed almost our whole day.
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_22nov10-0829_nn.jpg Our guide explained the history of the mine.  |
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_22nov11-b_1143.jpg No cars aloowed. We walked about one and a half mile from the town.  |
_22nov11-b_1146.jpg Seemingly abandoned house  |
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_22nov10-0821_nn.jpg Old relic no longer in use.  |
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In the 17th century, one third of the world's silver was extracted from this mine. (Read the text.) For four hundred years this mine was active. The shafts were all hewn by tiny hand tools. The methods of mining are illustrated in a picture scroll which is not in public domain. A few illustrations are seen at the mine exit which I failed to photograph because I expected "to buy the book." There is no book; few scholars have seen the picture scroll.
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_22nov11-b_1246.jpg The "shafts" are like termite tunnels, completely indifferent to up and down. They were all hand-chiseled from the hard rock. Ingenious means of pumping in air and sucking out water were applied over hundreds of years.  |
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_22nov11-b_1329.jpg Shizuko injured her foot on a rough pavement at the mine entrance. We returned from the shaft by shuttle. There is only one shuttle, capacity six people, and it runs only twice per hour.  |
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The vinicinity is beautiful. There is apparently an art colony of a sort.
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