Besshiyama [village] - Besshiyama

Japanese: 別子山[村] - べっしやま

A village in Uma County, eastern Ehime Prefecture. Population 319 (1995). Located in the upper reaches of the Dozan River, which flows east, it is surrounded by the Houou Mountains to the north and the Ishizuchi Mountains to the south. Legend has it that it was developed by three brothers who were refugees from the Heike clan. In the early Edo period, when the Besshi Copper Mine was opened by Izumiya (the Sumitomo family), the town developed as a mining town, and in the latter half of the Meiji period, the population reached over 12,400. In the Taisho period, the center of the copper mine moved west to the current area of Niihama City, and the area that had been the center until then came to be called Kyu-Besshi. The area over the Dozan Mountains that connects Kyu-Besshi with Niihama City is called Dozanmine and is a hiking trail.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

愛媛県東部，宇摩郡の村。人口319(1995)。東流する銅山川上流域に位置し，北は法皇山脈，南は石鎚山脈の山々に囲まれる。平家落人の三兄弟によって開発されたという伝えが残る。江戸前期，泉屋(住友家)によって別子銅山が開かれると鉱山町として発展，明治期後半には人口1万2400余に及んだ。大正期には銅山の中心が西の現新居浜市域に移り，それまで中心であった地域は旧別子と呼ばれるようになった。旧別子と新居浜市側を結ぶ銅山越え一帯は銅山峰と称され，ハイキングコースとなっている。

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

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