Kobe Shoin Women's University Repository

Kobe Shoin Women’s University Repository Title Sugae Masumi and Mining Author(s) Richard A. Jambor Citation 研究紀要（SHOIN REVIEW），第 40 号：1-16 Issue Date 1999 Resource Type Bulletin Paper / 紀要論文 Resource Version URL Right Additional Information Sugae Masumi and Mining by Richard A. Jambor Sugae Masumi (1754 1829) left his home near Toyohashi in 1783 to travel through northern Honshu and Hokkaido intending to publish the accounts of his travels on his return. Unfortunately, he died many years later in Akita without ever having published anything. After his death, however, historians and folklorists have come to recognize the value of his diaries, which are often beautifully illustrated, essays, and other writings. Besides containing descriptions of those he met and places he went to, his works touch on many aspects of the customs and beliefs held by those living in northern Japan during the Edo Period. They also have some understated accounts of the adventurous trips he took, such as the one through the deep snows of Aomori for no ap- parent reason other than to see a waterfall that he had heard about.' This paper examines Masumi's writings about the mines he visited during his travels. Although his descriptions do not take up much space in his collected works, they do provide some information about mining during the Edo Period and serve as a kind of springboard to more complete knowledge. Mining in Preindustrial Japan From early in their history, the Japanese have searched for the metals hidden in their mountainous archipelago. The statue of the Great Buddha in TOdaiji was cast from metals excavated in the mines of northern Japan in the early part of the eighth century. In fact, Masumi looked for the mine that first sent gold to the capital in Nara. Later, the Fujiwara Clan of Hiraizumi ruled for a period over an area that contained abundant sources of precious minerals. Prior to the sixteenth century, Japanese miners panned for gold or silver in rivers. 1 The violence of the Warring States Period increased the need for these metals.The vari- ous warlords needed them to pay their warriors and to buy supplies. When Kamiya Jun- tei, a Hakata merchant, discovered a rich silver lode at Iwami in Shimane Prefecture in 1526, he joined this silver rush, bringing skilled workers with him. The process that they used, introduced to Japan from Korea, simplified the extraction of gold and silver from the ore excavated in the mines. This process soon spread throughout Japan and was employed at the rich mines on Sado Island, and those at Ikuno in Hyogo and Innai in Akita. At this time, too, European traders were entering the Asian markets. The Portu- guese were the first to do so, serving as middlemen who shipped silver from Japan to China and Korea. There they exchanged the silver for silk and cotton to be sold in Ja- pan. Later, Spain, England, and Holland also took part in this profitable trade. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan, he regarded the most important mines as important sources of revenue and placed them under his direct control. When he came to power, Tokugawa Ieyasu continued this policy. Both rulers, however, later relented and allowed some mines to be controlled by feudal lords. The minerals dug from the mines were turned into coins, which were circulated by the merchants and craftsmen in the castle towns or exported. Ieyasu made the Satake Han move from their fief in Hitachi to Akita in 1602 because they had not joined his forces at the battle of Sekigahara. When they arrived in their new domain, the Satake found their fortunes greatly reduced. The mines there, along with the abundant forests, were two of their chief sources of revenue. Two mines in the Satake Han stand out. The mines at Innai were rich in silver. In fact, if the mines on Sado island were the richest ones during the Edo Period, Innai, along with those at Iwami and Ikuno, would stand next in rank, The Ani mines were also important. Gold had been mined there since the eighth century, but the Ani mines mainly produced copper during the Edo Period. In fact, they were responsible for thirty-eight per cent of the copper that the Shogunate exported from Nagasaki to the Far Eastern markets at this time. 2 The Satake Han managed its mines in one of two ways. In the first, the Han di- rectly controlled the mines, which were called jikiyama. In the second, the Han leased out the mines to brokers or yanrashi, with the mines being called ukeyama. Both cases required skilled workers.' Masumi at Innai From November 1784 to the following April, Sugae Masumi was in the Satake Han, having been forced to stay in Yuzawa by the severe winter weather. When spring came, he visited the Innai mines before resuming his travels. Like other mines, the one at Innai had a "boom or bust" pattern, with a population that fluctuated, according to the amount of silver or gold being produced. At one time, more people were living in Innai than in Kubota, the Han's castle town, (now known as Akita City). To illustrate the changes in population : in 1612 Innai is estimated to have had a population of from eight to twenty thousand people. That same year the mines produced more than 5,000 kan (18, 750kg.). By 1773, however, there were only eleven hundred people in Innai. Although there is no figure for how much silver was produced that year, it must have been low since the mines produced only slightly more than twenty-eight kan(105kg .) the following year.' With this in mind, let us look at Masumi's description of the visit he made to the mines there on April 15, 1785, from his diary One no Furusato . A cuckoo called from in the valley and deutzia were blooming. I climbed a slope, on the left of which a stream was flowing down from the forest above . The statue of Amida Buddha is said to be the same type as the one in the provincial capital of Ise. There was still some snow left at the foot of the mountain , and it was cold walking. When I asked about how the mine began, someone told me , "Many warriors died when lshida Mitsunari was defeated at the battle of Sekigahara . Three among them, Hayashi Jirozaemon of Ise, Watanabe Katsuzaemon of Aizuwakamatsu, and 3 Ishiyama DenjO of Dewa, escaped and visited kinsman in Ishiyama of Ono Vil- lage, Ogachi County. They laid low there, living as miners and panning for gold. Someone named Muryama Shuhe had a dream in which a god told him of a gold mine. When he crossed Mt. Nagakura and entered a deep valley, it looked exactly like what he had seen in his dream. Having told others about this important divine message, he brought many miners with him and began digging for silver in the Tenth Year of KeichO (1605). " The valley echoed with the sound of metal hammers breaking the stones and taking out the silver. The workers were putting sand on boards and shaking them again and again. This is how they must do it in Nasu. A great number of women were singing together the zaru age bushi as they put the pieces of broken rock in bamboo strainers and lifted them from the water. The pits where the silver is being mined are called shiki . I wonder how far down they go. They are very dark, and clear water was gushing out from between the rocks.' Rights were not granted to include this image in electronic media. Please refer to the printed journal. Fig.1 Women working at the Mt. Kago refinery. Masumi's description, which contains only about nine hundred characters in the original Japanese, is quite short. The river mentioned in it was formerly known as the Katsura River, but now is called the Innai River. The women were working outside the pits because there was a taboo that forbade their descending into them. Unfortunately, 4 he neither wrote down the words of the women's song nor described their work in suf- ficient detail to enable readers to visualize it. Unlike many of his other efforts, Masumi did not illustrate this scene. (Many years later, however, he did paint the lnnai mines in a topographical work (chishi), but without any further explanation.) A painting depicting women working at the Mt. Kago refinery helps here. After placing them in mortars (usu ), the women pounded the stones by treading on boards which had stone pestles attached to their ends (fig. 1). Once the stones were crushed, the women put them in baskets and washed them in a stream so that the lighter, worth- less material would float to the top and be carried away. Also, given the severity of the winters at Innai (note how Masumi describes being cold on that April day) the women must have worked indoors. Did the stream flow through the building at Innai as at Mt. Kago? Did Masumi himself enter the mines? His description takes so much for granted! Anyone going there would probably have seen what he did." However, the mines were fenced off, with a guardhouse (bansho) that checked on those seeking admittance or leaving the site. Only those employed or having some busi- ness in the mines were allowed in. Since not anyone would have been allowed entry to the mines, how did Masumi gain admittance? This is another point missing from Masumi's description of his visit.

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