Famous scenic spots
This is the database of famous scenic spots in INBE, AWA.
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Fuigo Bridge Red Claystone
Two kilometers down the prefectural road from the former Takagoe Mine, and three kilometers from Yamakawa Station, there is a suspension bridge at the end of a V-shaped valley where the Kawada River breaks through the mountains of Takagoe and flows north. This bridge is called the Bellows Bridge. The bridge is about 20 meters above the water, but the abutments on both sides are made of unusually large red-brick schist, especially the one on the east side, which is 15 meters above the water, 8 meters wide, and 10 meters deep.
The Honglen schist is a crystalline schist that contains Honglen stone in a mixture of cotton mica quartz schist and silica mica green mud schist, and is red in color. It is a crystalline schist with red color. In the vicinity of the Bellows Bridge, there is a layer of Benren schist that runs almost east-west, with an angle of 30 degrees to the south.
In the Meiji era (1868-1912), the Kawatayama Mine (Nagoshi Mine) was located in this area and produced a lot of high-quality spotted copper ore. This ore was smelted on the bridge. The smelting method was a primitive one where the ore was placed in a furnace and burned with coke, which required air to be supplied. The air blowers of the time were primitive bellows. The name "Bellows Bridge" was probably given to the workers who used many bellows.
As you walk upstream along the irrigation channel with clear water flowing on the left side of the bridge, you will soon see the remains of discarded wastes of copper smelting on the slope on your left. On the other side of the river is the abandoned Kawatayama mine.
Further upstream, you will see the Onkidai water embankment, which the local residents had the Takagoe Mine build as a result of their struggle against pollution.
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