Fossils & Smokestacks. Mine City

 

Mine, pronounced mee-nay, is located roughly in the middle of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Though called a city, with about 20,000 people spread over the area, it is really just a small town. It is now dominated by the quarry and cement plant of Mitsubishi Ube Cement Company.

Cement means limestone, and Mine sits on a large karst, a limestone plateau with numerous caves beneath it, including what is the largest cave in all of Japan.

Lots of fossils have been found beneath Mine, and fossils adorn the manhole covers, are the subject of a series of street sculptures, and fill the small but impressive Mine Fossil Museum which has a huge collection of Ammonites collected from all over the world among its collections.

There is also a Local History and Folklore Museum with collections that include fossils and skeletons of some of the ancient animals that roamed the area, as well as displays on the long history of mining in the area.

Copper has been mined here since ancient times, and was used in the construction of the Great Buddha in Nara.

In the Meiji Period coal began to be mined. At first it was used in the production of lime by burning limestone, but when it was discovered to be good quality anthracite, the Japanese Navy became interested. As I understand it, it was from the coal mines that most of the fossils were found.

The Navy operated the coal mines here and built the railway to take it to the coast, but eventually pulled out and the mines became privately owned again. During the 1930's and 1940's production was ramped up for the war effort. During the war many Korean labourers worked here and then allied POW's.

Production of coal continued after the war until the 1960's when the whole Japanese coal industry was closed down as the country shifted to cheaper oil.

Mine is now dominated by the open-cast limestone mine and associated cement plant. The two huge chimneys are visible long before you get to the town. I believe that a third has been added.

The mine started in 1947 and the cement factory in 1955. Initially, it was powered by coal but now uses "biomass". Though the main employer in the area, it never replaced the importance of the coal industry and the area continues to depopulate...

The last three photos show a small  Brutalist building, which offers me the opportunity for some abstract photography, and finally a public sculpture.

For those with an interest in geology and fossils, Mine would be worth a visit if nearby. There is a train station, though for several years the line has been closed and a replacement bus service is in operation.

The previous post in this series on day 26 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage was on a couple of interesting shrines I visited on my walk to Mine.

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