Chapter Ten: Picture scrolls as a historical source on Japanese mining

Abstract

Picture scrolls are widely known as an outstanding feature of Japanese literary and visual culture, combining texts and illustrations of highly esteemed works of literature as well as religious and historical narratives. This chapter provides an overview of the genre of mining scrolls, to analyse their pictures in relation to their historical content and their cultural framework, and to establish their reliability as historical sources. Before addressing the scrolls, the chapter gives a short summary of Japan's mining history in order to provide a better understanding of the factual background. It presents the picture scrolls depicting the gold and silver mines on the island of Sado. Keywords:gold mines; Japanese mining; picture scrolls; Sado scrolls; silver mines