Ohkawa Yato-no-iri Stone Quarry

Background

There are several stone quarries situated fairly close to Ohkawa Station. basically, the mountains immediately surrounding the station were quarried for stone. The easiest to find is the Yato-no-iri Quarry. At the time I was not aware of the others around this station, but it is possible to go over the mountain from this one to get to the others as well. It is one quarry I would like to explore more in the future, but this one like others around the station are on private property. It is easy to find and near the station, but I've been recommended not to enter without permision. All the quarries around this station on and around Mt. Yato are private property.

Along the opening of this quarry you'll see a large corner stone along the left side of the narrow road extending into the woods. This road is actually the original "stone dragging road" -ishihikimichi- into this quarry. Follow the road back and you will see another large corner stone too. Along the right side up the side of the mountain you will find countless stones in all stages of having ya-ana carved, being split, leaves, mistakes and stones ready for transport. The most common kokuin you'll see here is bundoumon 分銅紋. It belonged to the Horio of Matsue. (Shimizumon, sakuradmon)

箇所は> 外桜田門高麗門左手の石垣にあり、他にrl〇.大/n〇/riMLTr十/「て-©」の刻印も認められるの1箇所はへ清水門渡櫓門右手石垣と同- 外析形南壁の石垣にある

外桜田門へ清水門の石垣にへ分銅紋以外の多くの種類の刻印が認められることはへ第二章6刻印の ro 、」 r r®」、調査で述べたよぅにへ各石垣壁面を採石した大名I家がそのまま丁場普請を負担したものではないことを示唆している

Have you ever wondered where all the stones in the stone walls of castles come from? Â In particular, the amount of stone required for the vast walls of the former Edo Castle is mind boggling. Â It wasn't found laying around the castle grounds. Â In fact, the walls of Edo Castle were actually split up into sections that were each managed by a different daimyo who was responsible for procuring the stone and building the walls. One of the more popular places to acquire good stone was Izu. Â Stones for the walls were cut, shaped and shipped off to Edo for the massive building efforts. Today, there are several places along the coast of Izu where you can find remnants of these stone cutting quarries. The Izu Ookawa Stone Quarry is one of the most interesting to visit today even though it won't be found in any tourism materials. It's also not labelled on any maps and there are no signs guiding you to the location so it took some effort to identify the right place.

What makes the Ookawa site so interesting is that it looks like it was simply abandoned in the middle of being an active quarry. There are stones in all the different stages of cutting and shaping. Some have been just marked off, some just split, and some finished or nearly finished stones ready for transport. There are also tons (literally!) of stone chips and leavings scattered all around the site. It seems like everywhere you look, every stone you see has some marks from being a part of this process. Working in these quarries was also dangerous work. Local legend say that the stream which runs through the quarry once ran red with the blood of injuries to the workers.

There are a lot of pictures here, but they are roughly grouped into types of similar pictures so just click through them all to get a good understanding of the site.

Gallery

Bonaki-ishi. This huge block was likely abandoned for being too big to transport.

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Ohkawa Yato-no-iri Stone Quarry Profile
English Name	Ohkawa Yato-no-iri Stone Quarry
Japanese Name	大川谷戸の入石丁場
Location	Higashi Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture
Castle	Edo Castle
Coordinates	34.83736, 139.07095
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