Osarizawa Copper Mine Incident

Japanese: 尾去沢銅山事件 - おさりざわどうざんじけん

...A mine in Osarizawa, Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture. The geology around the mine consists of Neogene Miocene tuff, mudstone, and propylite, rhyolite, and dacite that penetrate through it. Within an area of 2km x 3km, hundreds of fissure-filled deposits containing a variety of metals such as copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver are known. [Umetaro Yamaguchi]
[history]
According to oral tradition, it was discovered in the early 8th century during the Wadou era, but there is no definitive proof. Records show that copper mining began in 1666 (Kanbun 6) when miner Nagao Juzaemon discovered copper ore in Tagorizawa and Akazawa, and development progressed rapidly after Morioka merchant Kumagai Jihei became the sole contractor in 1686 (Jokyo 3).

From [Suspicion]

…The word 'saga' originally meant a case where it was unclear whether or not the perpetrator would be imprisoned and the criminal facts were ambiguous. Since this type of case more or less affected the political, bureaucratic, and financial circles, it is now a general term for cases involving vested interests that have become politicized. A characteristic of saga cases is that they are widely covered by society as political issues, and in exchange for loud criticism by the press, they are rarely prosecuted as criminal cases. In the early Meiji period, there were cases where the clan-based government and political businessmen were directly connected over the provision of special privileges, such as the Yamashiroya Incident, in which Yamagata Aritomo is said to have been involved, and many of these cases did not come to light. …

*Some of the terms used in reference to the Osarizawa Copper Mine Incident are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…秋田県鹿角市尾去沢にある鉱山。鉱山付近の地質は，新第三系中新統の凝灰岩，泥岩とこれを貫くプロピライト，流紋岩，石英安山岩から成り，その2km×3kmの範囲に銅，鉛，亜鉛，金，銀等の多種類の金属を含む数百条の割れ目充てん鉱床が知られている。【山口梅太郎】
［歴史］
　口碑によると8世紀初めの和銅年間の発見と伝えられているが確証はない。記録上銅鉱の採掘が始まるのは，1666年(寛文6)山師長尾重左衛門が田郡沢，赤沢で銅鉱を発見して以降で，86年(貞享3)に盛岡の商人熊谷治兵衛単独の請負稼業となってから急速に開発が進んだ。…

【疑獄】より

…〈疑獄〉という言葉は，元来入獄させるか否かが明確でなく，犯罪事実があいまいな事件を意味する。この種の事件は多かれ少なかれ政･官･財界に波及するため，現在では政治問題化した利権関係事件の総称となっている。政治問題として社会的に大きく取りあげられ，ジャーナリズムによる声高な批判を代償として，刑事事件としては訴追されることがきわめて少ないのが疑獄事件の特徴といってよい。　明治初期においては，山県有朋が関与したといわれる山城屋事件など，藩閥政府と政商とが特権の供与をめぐって直接結びついたケースがあり，多くは表沙汰にならなかった。…

※「尾去沢銅山事件」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

<<: O'Sullivan, JL - O'Sullivan

>>: Osarizawa mine tailings dam collapse incident