The Mitsui Miike Coal Mine, Japan’s largest coal mine in the past, was closed in 1997.

The Mitsui Miike Coal Mine, whose pitheads were in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture and Arao City, Kumamoto Prefecture, was discovered at the beginning of the 18^th century.  As it was during the feudal years, the mine operators were three local feudal domains such as the Yanagawa domain, Kurume domain and Miike domain.  The main use of coal at that time was the fuel for salt manufacture, but in accordance with the modernization progress thereafter, the use of it remarkably changed to the fuel for iron industry and the power source of transportation facilities.  To cope with this situation, the then Japanese government nationalized the coal mine in 1873, then sold to the Mitsui Conglomerate, the then largest private enterprise in Japan, in 1888.  Right after the acquisition, they tackled full-scale mechanization of the mine to make it Japan’s greatest coal mine in terms of output.  After the Second World War, however, it was finally driven into the discontinuing in 1997 because of the transition of energy source from coal to oil.  Many old facilities of the mine were preserved untouched as it was in the past.  The photo shows those facilities of the Manda Minehead in Arao City, Kumamoto Prefecture.  This is designated as an important cultural asset as well as a component of a World Heritage.

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