Sahimeyama Shrine

Sahimeyama Shrine stands on a hillside 200 meters from the Ryugenji mining tunnel at Iwami Ginzan, built directly above one of the richest silver veins in the area. During the peak of silver production in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, miners and their families lived on terraced ground around the shrine, praying daily at the sanctuary. None of the houses survive, but the stone walls that supported the terraced hillside are still visible. The shrine enshrines Kanayamahiko no Mikoto, the Shinto god of mining. The current buildings date to 1819 and include an unusually large worship hall built to host kagura performances, a tradition still central to Iwami folk culture.