Mining of gold and copper at the legendary Osarizawa mine began around 1300 years ago, with the last of the smelting facilities closing down in 1978. Now the site is owned by Mitsubishi, who run guided tours around the highlights and a museum for 1,000 yen- a tour we almost got chain-ganged into joining.One legend of Osarizawa mine involves a gorgon-headed lion with the wings of a phoenix, the legs of a cow and the head of a snake. Its roar and monstrous appetite for children terrified the nearby villagers, who urged the village’s wisest old man to go battle it on the mountain top. The old man had long grey hair, and went to battle the beast in a series of 6 dreams. In the final one he managed to slit open the beast’s belly, from which poured gold, copper and lead.
While climbing the hill behind the Osarizawa pools (the Incan mine temple structure) we were spotted from the still-active factory nearby. We didn’t think too much about it, until a mini-bus with two people on board pulled into the roped-off area before the pools, and spent a while kicking about, laughing, and looking up at where me and Mike were hiding on the slopes.
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