Japan Heritage story
Izumo's tatara: a thousand years of making iron
出雲國たたら風土記
For about 1,400 years, people in the Izumo mountains made iron from iron sand and charcoal in tatara furnaces. They turned the mined hills into rice terraces, and it is the only place in the world where tatara fires still burn.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles, Forests and timber, Festivals and rituals, Food and sake, Mines and minerals
- Era
- Kamakura, Muromachi, Azuchi-Momoyama, Edo, Meiji
- Region
- Chugoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 出雲國たたら風土記
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- ～鉄づくり千年が生んだ物語～
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 島根県（雲南市，安来市，奥出雲町 ）
The story
Eastern Shimane has granite soil rich in iron sand and wide forests for charcoal. The Izumo Fudoki of 733 already praised its iron as hard and ideal for tools, and at the peak, from the late Edo to the Meiji period, about 80% of Japan's iron came from these mountains. Legend says the god of iron making, Kanayago, came down on a white heron and landed in a katsura tree here.
To get iron sand, miners washed whole hillsides into channels, a method called kanna-nagashi. They then rebuilt the land as rice terraces, leaving shrine groves and graves untouched as little hills among the paddies. Charcoal forests were cut on a cycle of about 30 years so they would never run out. Iron went down to the port of Yasugi and out across Japan by ship, bringing back wealth and culture, from tea rooms to festival music.
What to see
- Kanayago shrine: the head shrine of the iron-making god, revered as the birthplace of iron making.Google Maps 金屋子神社 安来市 (opens in a new tab)
- Okuizumo's rice terraces: terraces over 1 km long, dotted with small sacred hills left by the miners.
- Yasugi: the old iron port, home of the Yasugi-bushi folk song and its dojo-sukui (loach-scooping) dance.
- Kagura: local dances that retell the myth of Susanoo slaying the eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi.
Plan your trip with the Shimane prefecture guide and see more history and heritage and nature.
Good to know
- Try Izumo soba and Nita rice, both grown on land opened up by iron mining.
- Look for the small wooded hills in the paddies: each one is a shrine grove or grave the miners spared.
- The area is rural and spread out, so a car makes it much easier to get around.
Questions travellers ask
What is tatara iron making?
A traditional Japanese way of making iron and steel by smelting iron sand with charcoal in a clay furnace.
Is tatara still practised?
Yes. Izumo is the only place in the world where the tatara technique is still handed down, and its know-how lives on in Yasuki Hagane steel.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Esashi: the herring town that outshone Edo
- Fukiya: the birthplace of Japan Red
- Iwami kagura: gods and demons dance the old myths
- Iwami's volcanoes: Jomon forest and silver mountain in Oda
- Izumo: the sacred land where the sun sets
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Masuda: a medieval masterpiece of Japan
- Tsuwano: walk into a book of 100 old paintings
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.