Japan Heritage story
Mitake Shosenkyo: the crystal gorge behind Yamanashi's craft
甲州の匠の源流・御嶽昇仙峡
North of Kofu, the Arakawa River has carved Shosenkyo, one of Japan's most beautiful gorges, out of granite. The mountains here also yielded quartz crystal, once thought to be solid water, and the skills to polish it grew into Japan's largest jewellery industry and even the crystals inside today's smartphones.
Key facts
- Theme
- Sea and waterside, Forests and timber, Mines and minerals
- Era
- Edo, Meiji
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 甲州の匠の源流・御嶽昇仙峡
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- ～水晶の鼓動が導いた信仰と技、そして先進技術へ～
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 山梨県（甲府市、甲斐市）
The story
The mountains around Mount Kinpu produced fine six-sided quartz crystals, which people linked with the worship of water sources. Kanazakura Shrine, founded in the Kamakura period, keeps a polished crystal ball as a sacred treasure, and the Takeda clan prayed here. Pilgrims once reached it by a steep old mountain road, but in the late Edo period villager Osada En'emon and his helpers spent nine years cutting a new road along the river, revealing the gorge's waterfalls and rock walls to the world.
Crystal polishing is said to have been taught to the shrine's priests by a Kyoto bead merchant. By the Edo period, Kofu workshops made crystal glasses, beads and netsuke, and after the war the skills grew into Japan's biggest jewellery cluster, with about 1,000 companies. The University of Yamanashi went on to be the first in Japan to mass-produce synthetic quartz, now used in computers and communications.
What to see
- Shosenkyo Gorge and Sengataki Falls: granite cliffs, boulders and waterfalls along the Arakawa, with the hand-cut Sekimon rock gate.Google Maps 仙娥滝 (opens in a new tab)
- Kanazakura Shrine: the mountain shrine that keeps a sacred crystal ball.Google Maps 金櫻神社 (opens in a new tab)
- Yamanashi Jewelry Museum: crystal history, tools and gem polishing workshops in Kofu.Google Maps 山梨ジュエリーミュージアム (opens in a new tab)
- Yumura Onsen: the hot spring town at the foot of the gorge, loved by writers like Dazai Osamu.Google Maps 湯村温泉郷 (opens in a new tab)
Plan your trip with the Yamanashi prefecture guide and see more nature.
Good to know
- Try gem polishing with a craftsperson at the Yamanashi Jewelry Museum.
- Look for Koshu crystal carving, a traditional craft from Kofu.
- Stay at Yumura Onsen and visit the gorge from there, as travellers have since the late Edo period.
Questions travellers ask
Why is Yamanashi famous for jewellery?
Crystal mined near Shosenkyo and the polishing skills learned at Kanazakura Shrine grew into a jewellery industry of about 1,000 companies, the largest in Japan.
How was Shosenkyo opened up?
In the late Edo period, villager Osada En'emon spent nine years building a road along the river, making the gorge accessible.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.