A Sparkling Jōmon Era Mine

The Hoshikuso Pass Obsidian Quarry Site

「Hoshikuso is a dialectical term for obsidian known since around the Edo period. The area around the Hoshikuso pass has long had stories of star fragments falling and piling up there, dazzling obsidian shards filling the area. In the adjacent forest, the remains of a mine where Jōmon people extracted obsidian were found. One of Japan’s few obsidian mines is open to the public as a historic landmark, where you can see the evidence of the Jōmon’s daily activities thousands of years later, as crater-like dents.