🏯 Japan World Heritage Guide

Home » Chubu » Sado Island Gold Mines

Sado Island Gold Mines 佐渡島の金山

Inscribed 2024CulturalNiigata

Gold and silver mines on Sado Island worked for over 250 years under the Tokugawa shogunate using non-mechanised, traditional techniques. The Aikawa mine's split mountain, hand-dug tunnels, placer workings at Nishimikawa and the Tsurushi silver mine preserve a complete Edo-period mining landscape and the culture of the miners who came from across Japan.

ADVERTISEMENT
Sado Island Gold Mines — 佐渡島の金山
Photo: Asturio Cantabrio · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Inscribed2024 (UNESCO World Heritage List)
Criteria(iv) — Cultural
PrefecturesNiigata
UNESCO listingwhc.unesco.org — ref. 1698
Component parts3 listed below
Coordinates38.04083, 138.25778 · Open in Google Maps

Component parts of Sado Island Gold Mines

The inscription is made up of 3 component parts. Open one for its location, coordinates and details.

Planning a visit

Opening hours, admission and the best access routes are managed by each site's local operators and change over time. Start with the official UNESCO listing and the local official tourism pages linked from Wikipedia below, and check the current information before you go.

Read more

Basic data from the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Wikidata (CC0).

ADVERTISEMENT