Shiota - Enden

Japanese: 塩田 - えんでん

A rice field-like area made of sand, clay, etc., made to extract salt from seawater. In areas with little rainfall and strong sunlight, such as Africa, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central America, salt can be concentrated in salt fields using solar heat and wind to produce salt crystals. This is called solar salt production. In Japan, where the weather conditions are not favorable, seawater is concentrated to a certain extent in salt fields and then sent to the salt production process using heat. In the past, various types of salt fields were seen throughout the country in Japan, but since the early 17th century, most salt fields have been found along the Seto Inland Sea coast, and since the 1950s, most salt fields have been run-down type (run-down plate/branch rack method). In the run-down type, small gravel is laid on the surface of a gently sloping plate made of clay or polyvinyl chloride, and seawater is run over it several times to evaporate and concentrate it. Next, bamboo branches are hung in several rows at 1m intervals on a 5-7m tower called a shirasu, which is set up perpendicular to the wind direction, and seawater is allowed to fall like rain, concentrating it using the wind. This process is repeated to obtain concentrated brine with a salt content of 15-20%, which can be sent to the salt factory. However, this method is also expensive in terms of land rent, so in 1972 the ion exchange method was used, and salt production in salt fields in Japan disappeared. In major salt-producing areas such as Ako in the Seto Inland Sea, facilities have been built to introduce the techniques and processes used in salt production at that time. →Salt production→Related topics Ako Salt Fields | Ako Domain | Gyotoku Salt Fields | Takehara Salt Fields | Fuya Salt Fields

Shiota

A district of Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture. A former town in Chiisagata County, the main settlement is in the rice paddy area that occupies the southwestern part of the Ueda Basin. Medicinal ginseng is a local specialty. The Ueda Electric Railway Bessho Line runs from Ueda City to Bessho Onsen in the west.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

海水から塩をとるために作られた砂，粘土などによる田のような区画。アフリカ，西アジア，東南アジア，中米など雨量が少なく日射の強い地域では，太陽熱と風を利用し，塩田で順次海水を濃縮し，塩の結晶を得ることもでき，これを天日製塩という。気象条件の恵まれぬ日本では，塩田で海水をある程度濃縮し，火力による製塩工程に送っていた。日本の塩田は古くは全国的にさまざまな様式のものがみられたが，17世紀初頭以降瀬戸内海沿岸が中心となり，また1950年代以降はほとんど流下式塩田（流下盤・枝条架法）のみとなった。流下式とはまず粘土や塩化ビニルなどで作ったゆるやかな傾斜盤の表面に小砂利を敷きつめ，海水をこの上に数回流して蒸発濃縮させる。次に枝条架という５〜7mのやぐらに1m間隔で竹の枝条を数段つるしたものを，風向きに直角に立て，海水を雨のように落下させ，風を利用して濃縮し，これを繰り返して塩分15〜20％の濃縮塩水を得て製塩工場に送る。しかしこれも地代の面でコストがかかるため，1972年にはイオン交換法に切りかえられ，日本の塩田製塩は姿を消した。瀬戸内の赤穂など主要塩田生産地では，当時の塩田製塩の技術や工程を紹介する施設が作られている。→製塩
→関連項目赤穂塩田｜赤穂藩｜行徳塩田｜竹原塩田｜撫養塩田