1. Graveyard for Mushukunin (drifters)
Gold and Silver Mines Heritage and Relics

Graveyard for Mushukunin (drifters)

A resting place of drainage labourers in Aikawa

Inscribed with birthplace, posthumous Buddhist names, names and ages of twenty-eight mushukuknin, who worked as a drainage labourer and deceased underground in 1853, a gravestone stands in the middle of mountains. In the Edo Period, to secure labour at the gold mine, 1,800-some mushukunin were forced to come and work in a mine from Edo (present-day Tokyo), and Osaka and Nagasaki, both of which were under direct control of the Edo Shogunate. Mushukunin is people who do not have fixed address arrested under the Shogunate's public security measures. Due to the hard labour, mushukunin is said to have lived a short life.

Facility Basic Information

Address
Aikawa Sotokumachi, Sado, Niigata
Transport Access
Ryotsu Port Approx 50 minutes by car
Nearest bus stop
Sado Kinzanmae [Sado Gold Mine] (Honsen [Main Line], Nanaura Kaigansen Line) Approx. 15 minutes on foot from bus stop
Parking
Not Available

Nearby Spots

Stores where you can eat and drink nearby