{"id":284,"date":"2025-08-28T09:27:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T00:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/?page_id=284"},"modified":"2026-01-30T13:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:33:24","slug":"area08","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/igp\/area\/area08\/","title":{"rendered":"8. Hashidate Gold Mine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<h1>Hashidate Gold Mine Area<img src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/yama_icon.png\" \/><\/h1>\n<p>Remains of Itoigawa&#8217;s Largest Gold Mine<\/p>\n\t<p>Hashidate Gold Mine, the largest goldmine in Itoigawa, is said to have been built by <b>Uesugi Kenshi<\/b>, daimyo of Echigo Province (Niigata Prefecture) during the Warring States period (16th Century CE). Before being abandoned, it produced about 1.2 metric tons of gold. The vast majority of this gold was mined between the years of <b>1898 and 1905<\/b> where over <b>1,000 workers<\/b> extracted <b>846kg of gold<\/b> from the tunnels. With the construction of a hydroelectric plant in <b>1903<\/b>, this area also became the site of the <b>first electric light in Itoigawa<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Here, where the mountain ridges surrounding Kanayama Valley, Nagajiri Valley, and Aso Valley converge, you can still see many pitheads. Also, in the flat zone, you can see a <b>stone wall<\/b> and <b>millstone<\/b> left as reminders of the gold mine offices and smelting works that once occupied this location.<\/p>\n<p>Legends are told of a Yamanba, or mountain witch, who once lived near here. On the side of Shiratori Mountain, Yamanba Cave is said to have been her home and Odori&#8217;iwa is said to be the stone upon which she would dance and sing. Zeami, a playwright of the Muromachi period (14th century CE), used this legend as inspiration for his Noh play, &#8220;Yamanba.&#8221;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/beaver-builder-lite-version\/img\/pixel.png\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<img src=\"\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/map8.png\" usemap=\"#area_illust\" id=\"area_illust_image\" width=\"992\" alt=\"Hashidate Gold Mine Area\" \/>\n    <map name=\"area_illust\">\n  <area shape=\"rect\" coords=\"584,16,826,80\" alt=\"Mt. Shiratoriyama\" title=\"Mt. Shiratoriyama\" \/>\n  <area shape=\"rect\" coords=\"14,207,232,270\" alt=\"Tunnel mouth\" title=\"Tunnel mouth\" \/>\n  <area shape=\"rect\" coords=\"732,161,946,225\" alt=\"Yamanba Cave\" title=\"Yamanba Cave\" \/>\n  <area shape=\"rect\" coords=\"733,288,979,352\" alt=\"Sakata Toge Pass\" title=\"Sakata Toge Pass\" \/>\n  <area shape=\"rect\" coords=\"23,463,263,526\" alt=\"Kanayamadani Gorge\" title=\"Kanayamadani Gorge\" \/>\n  <area shape=\"rect\" coords=\"226,568,440,629\" alt=\"Tunnel mouth\" title=\"Tunnel mouth\" \/>\n  <area shape=\"rect\" coords=\"466,568,709,631\" alt=\"Hashidate Gold Mine Site\" title=\"Hashidate Gold Mine Site\" \/>\n    <\/map>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/g-area_08_010-800x565.jpg\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p>Remains of the Gold Mine Office<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/g-area_08_020-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p>Millstone used to crush ore<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/g-area_08_030.jpg\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p>Pithead<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/g-area_08_040.jpg\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p>Ore consisting of gold flecks in quartz<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/g-area_08_050.jpg\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p>Rock used to build office wall<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/g-area_08_060.jpg\" alt=\"\" itemprop=\"image\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\tGold dust found in Omigawa River<br \/>\n(0.5\uff5e2mm)\n\t     View Map\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1Ha4vKTsMyMr_ZstSDYy5OLO67kmWA20&#038;ehbc=2E312F\"><\/iframe>\n<h3>\n\t\t\t Area Access &#038; Closures\t<\/h3>\n\t<p>The Hashidate Gold Mine is located in a mountainous area with poor road access and limited signage. Please consider hiring a Geopark Guide.<\/p>\n\n\t<ul>\n    <li><a href=\"..\/area07\/\"><u>7. Maikomidaira Area<\/u><\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"..\/area09\/\"><u>9. Kotakigawa Jade Gorge Area<\/u><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t<ul class=\"d-md-flex area_link ml-0\">\n    <li class=\"bg-hisui\"><div><a href=\"\/en\/igp\/area\/#hisui_area\">\n        <span>Discover Jade<\/span>\n        <img src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/hisui_icon.png\">\n        <\/a><\/div>\n    <\/li>\n    <li class=\"bg-history\"><div><a href=\"\/en\/igp\/area\/#history_area\">\n        <span>Birth of the Japanese Archipelago<\/span>\n        <img src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/history_icon_w.png\">\n        <\/a><\/div>\n    <\/li>\n    <li class=\"bg-yama\"><div><a href=\"\/en\/igp\/area\/#yama_area\">\n        <span>Breathtaking Mountains<\/span>\n        <img src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/yama_icon02.png\">\n        <\/a><\/div>\n    <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hashidate Gold Mine Area Remains of Itoigawa&#8217;s Largest Gold Mine Hashidate Gold Mine, the largest goldmi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":103,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1411,"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/284\/revisions\/1411"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geo-itoigawa.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}