What other travelers are saying about Ashio Dozan Copper Mine
After learning about the history of the mines and city I was very interested in going. The ride into the mines is short but great! I loved looking around inside the parts of the mine we could visit. And on the way out there were some cool things to see as well as a building that shows the history of Ashio and copper coin production.
There was some information in English, but you definitely miss out on a lot if you don’t know Japanese.
Overall, I loved it!
It's a wonderful example of life in the area up to 1973 when the copper mine closed. A small train will take you into the mine and from there you'll work your way back to the surface passing examples of how work was done. It's quite wet so don't wear anything too light, it's pretty cool down there too but the temperature stays the same. There's a really nice set of museum exhibits once out and the souvenir shop has thousands of things to choose from and reasonably priced. I'll probably come again.
Since the first copper was discovered in Bizendateyama in 1610 (Keicho 15th year), it has prospered as a copper mine directly managed by the Edo Shogunate.
When it was privatized by Furukawa Ichibei in 1877 (Meiji 10), it rapidly developed with the latest technology and equipment, and grew into the best copper mine in Japan.
Currently, a part of the mine has been opened for sightseeing in Ashio Copper Mine, and its history and mechanism can be understood.
