Silver Mining

We picked up our car today and did a quick stop at Hiroshima Castle (top left) which was looking stunning. Mrs C was sure we'd seen it last time but eventually accepted we hadn't. We then headed north, winding around the hills or going through them, probably about 15 tunnels, some several km long. The primary visit today was the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, the largest in Japanese history and open for 400 years until 1926. It was a 2km walk up to it, which was fine because it was warm and the sun was shining, and we walked through the main shaft (top right). There were numerous smaller mines around, and a massive smelting site on the side of a hill then walked through a bamboo forest (bottom left). The old mining village is still inhabited too and miners had created some caves for Buddhist Temples at the side of the road (bottom right). We must have walked about 6km.

We continued on to our hotel in Matsue for 2 nights, on the north west facing coast.