和銅遺跡

Park your car in the parking lot of Hijiri Shrine and walk. The slope is a little steep. Walk for about 10 to 15 minutes. It's a little hike. The ruins are along the river in the mountains. You may not know unless it is called an archaeological site. It's because there is a monument.

From R140, after passing the Holy Shrine and climbing a narrow road, there is a free parking lot for 4 to 5 Wado ruins on the left side. It may be a little easier than walking from the Holy Shrine.

At the beginning of this year, I went to Chichibu's Hijiri Shrine and the Wado mining ruins, which were involved in the issuance of Japan's first full-scale distribution coin "Wadokaichin", hoping for a rise in the luck of "money luck" (laughs). The title of "first currency" was handed over to Fuhonsen, which was discovered after that, but it is also suspected that "this is not practical and is not for Majinai?", And the general public first saw it. As the currency used, the value of Wadokaichin has not been lost. When I was a kid, I was taught "Wadokaihou", but now it seems that I often call it "Wadokaichin". It seems that there is a difference between seeing "Wadokaichin" as an abbreviation for 寳 and a rare abbreviation. As for the value, one piece is the price for one day's labor at that time, or it can be exchanged for 2 kg of rice, so it will be around 10,000 yen now. By the way, Empress Genmei, who presented the copper mined at this place, was very pleased and was very happy because he changed the era name to "Wado". This is because at that time, metal resources such as gold, silver, and copper did not exist in Japan, and it was thought that the only way to issue money was to import raw materials from overseas. If you compare it now, I think it's close to the shocking news that "a large-scale oil field has been discovered in Japan and crude oil is spouting from here and there!" (Laughs). That would make you happy. At the ruins, there are two vertical moat-shaped grooves on the surface of the mountain, which are made by mining copper and scooping out hard rocky mountains. As for the type of copper, it seems that "Niki Akane", which is close to pure copper, was obtained instead of copper ore that requires refining and processing. And in front of the ruins, there was a stream that would have been used to sort copper at that time. It wasn't Kamakura's "Zeniarai Benten" because it was done by another person, but I also imitated it and washed the bills in that stream. I hope it will increase many times and come back (laughs).

[Birthplace of Japanese currency] It seems that you can see the remains of open pit mining of Wado at the Wado ruins, but honestly, I didn't really understand it ~ A fairly large Wado open-air monument? Bronze statue? There is a powerful score ♪ The height seems to be about 5m! !! There was a small parking lot nearby and I walked! !! It feels like you're ahead when you follow the path and go down the stairs! !! If you go on a road that is not a ruins, you will find the Hijiri Shrine, so it is recommended to go sightseeing as a set! !! Woods? Hayashi? It is recommended for those who want to enjoy nature and those who are interested in history as it goes through the great outdoors ♪