Qualla: Hosokura Mine: Eleven Centuries Underground https://qualla.com/hosokura-mine en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:40 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/u/h/hosokura-mine-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Hosokura Mine: Eleven Centuries Underground https://qualla.com/hosokura-mine Hosokura Mine: Eleven Centuries Underground: Introduction https://qualla.com/hosokura-mine/ Photo credit Suikotei, CC BY-SA 4.0. The tunnels run five kilometers east to west and three kilometers north to south, threading through more than 150 veins of lead, zinc, and silver beneath the mountains of northern Miyagi Prefecture. For over a thousand years, someone has been digging here. The Hosokura Mine was discovered during the early Heian period -- the Daido or Jogan era of the 9th century -- making it one of the oldest continuously worked mines in Japan. By the time it closed in February 1987, it had yielded 26 million tonnes of ore grading 1.59 percent lead and 4.12 percent zinc, along with 12.8 million ounces of silver. The mountain gave generously. It also demanded a cost that no production statistic can measure.

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/u/h/hosokura-mine-wp/xnuh-hosokura-mine-eleven-centuries-underground-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Hosokura Mine: Eleven Centuries Underground: A Thousand Years of Ore https://qualla.com/hosokura-mine/ Photo credit Suikotei, CC BY-SA 4.0. For centuries, the Hosokura deposit drew miners to the remote mountains near what is now the city of Kurihara, in the old town of Uguisuzawa. The mine's fortunes shifted dramatically in 1934, when Mitsubishi Mining acquired management rights and launched an aggressive modernizati...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/u/h/hosokura-mine-wp/xnuh-hosokura-mine-eleven-centuries-underground-a-thousand-years-of-ore.mp3 0:06 2 full Hosokura Mine: Eleven Centuries Underground: The Men Who Did Not Choose to Dig https://qualla.com/hosokura-mine/ Photo credit Suikotei, CC BY-SA 4.0. During World War II, the mine became something else entirely. Designated as Sendai POW Camp 3-B, Hosokura received approximately 300 Allied prisoners of war in January 1945 -- 234 Americans and 50 British servicemen among them. The British contingent included survivors of the Hor...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/u/h/hosokura-mine-wp/xnuh-hosokura-mine-eleven-centuries-underground-the-men-who-did-not-choose-to-dig.mp3 0:06 3 full Hosokura Mine: Eleven Centuries Underground: The Economics of Collapse https://qualla.com/hosokura-mine/ Photo credit Suikotei, CC BY-SA 4.0. The global recession of the 1970s hit commodity mines hard, and Hosokura was no exception. As metal prices fell and operational costs rose, the mine that had once been among Japan's most productive became increasingly difficult to sustain. Month by month through the early 1980s, ...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/u/h/hosokura-mine-wp/xnuh-hosokura-mine-eleven-centuries-underground-the-economics-of-collapse.mp3 0:06 4 full Hosokura Mine: Eleven Centuries Underground: Walking Where They Worked https://qualla.com/hosokura-mine/ Photo credit Suikotei, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1990, three years after the last ore cart rolled, Kurihara opened the Hosokura Mine Park on the site. Today visitors walk through portions of the original main tunnel, following explanation boards that trace the mine's geological and industrial history. The park presents the m...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/u/h/hosokura-mine-wp/xnuh-hosokura-mine-eleven-centuries-underground-walking-where-they-worked.mp3 0:06 5 full