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51-481: The company traces its origins to Furukawa Ichibei who founded Nikko Copper Works, a copper-smelting facility at Yokohama in 1884, which became part of Furukuwa Kogyo. A new company; Furukuwa Denki Kogyo, was formed in 1920, when it merged its copper business with its own Yokohoma Wire Manufacturing Company, which it had acquired in 1908. So, the new company was able to combine its businesses of mining, refining, and making copper products, like wire and cable. Furukawa

102-581: A decade of protest was the 1897 Third Mine Pollution Prevention Order, which ordered the Furukawa Corporation , the mine's owner, to take action to prevent further toxins from leaking into the Watarase River. In addition, the government, headed by Ōkuma Shigenobu , put plans for reforestation of the area surrounding the Ashio Copper Mine. After the 1897 Third Mine Pollution Prevention Order,

153-518: A few drills, and the injured officials. At the Honzan Ariki mine pits, miners destroyed the underground foremen's cabins early in the morning before moving aboveground in two groups. They targeted the offices at the mine pits, and then moved to the company store and two departments at the center of the Ashio Copper Mine, where they looted the store and broke windows and doors at the departments. When Mine Director Minami Teizō arrived later that morning,

204-502: A higher education. It was about the time of the treaty that opened Japan to commerce with the United States and other civilized nations, that the strong traits manifested by the boy attracted the attention of a business man in his native town. He was adopted by an eccentric man named Furukawa Tarozaemon, who gave his adopted son some schooling in business. The stepfather and son had frequent but respectful differences of opinion, but in time

255-415: A larger flood followed, causing still further environmental damage. Residents of the surrounding area also suffered multiple health issues, including sores where they came into contact with contaminated water or soil, chronic arsenic exposure, higher premature death rates, lower birth rates, and in the case of many women, trouble producing milk. At the same time as the environmental damage was occurring in

306-656: A major secondary product of the mine, and large amounts of sulfuric acid was also used for minerals extraction. In the aftermath of the Ashio Copper Mine Incident and the Mining Pollution Prevention Ordinance of 1897, the mine owners replaced their previous expansion-focused policy with a policy of stabilization and retrenchment. Over three days in February 1907, miners at the mine rioted over low wages and poor working conditions. Damage from

357-548: A process of mass extraction. Emissions from the new smelters included sulfur dioxide , which caused lung damage in people and created acid rain that poisoned land and animals; and arsenic , which caused all manner of health problems when ingested. The new processing methods caused additional problems: Mass extraction produced piles of slag, which rainwater ran through and from which it absorbed chemicals. This rainwater found its way into nearby rivers, and from there into fields of crops which were then poisoned and suffocated. By

408-519: A speech questioning Enomoto's behavior, which gained him support from several notable figures. Then, in March, dissatisfied farmers marched on Tokyo twice, with the second march comprising 4,000 participants. The government was still slow to act, but it did act. After visiting the area surrounding the mine and seeing the damage for himself, Enomoto eventually created a Pollution Investigation Committee. He then resigned on December 28, 1897. The result of almost

459-440: A while. This second mine was old and had been worked for decades. It had always produced fairly, but was thought to be pretty well spent. Furukawa's purchase was laughed at by a few of the initiated and not even his own miners encouraged him in the venture. As operations in the mine improved under his ownership and management, it turned out to be one of the greatest mines of Japan, the now-famous Ashio Copper Mine . His management of

510-528: Is remembered in Japan as the highest example of a far-sighted, public-spirited man, who accomplished great things, and deserved his title of the "Copper King." In his seventy-second year, the year prior to his death, he went to Korea to open a gold mine. He also had in mind great plans to open mines in China , cut short by his death. His great wealth and ripe old age, did not cause him to slow down. He refused to listen to

561-630: The Ashio copper mine from the Japanese government in 1877, which he later organized, with his other holdings, into an industrial conglomerate called the Furukawa zaibatsu , one of the most important in Japan. Japanese companies today with the names "Furukawa" and "Fuji", often belong to this group. Furukawa's school education began and ended before Commodore Perry 's ships entered Japanese waters. His parents were lower middle-class and could not afford to give him

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612-554: The "Ashio Copper Mine Sightseeing" (a tourist attraction to convey the history the copper mine) and also the Furukawa Ashio History Museum were opened. In 2008, the mine received protection as a National Historic Site . The Ashio copper mine incident  [ ja ] is the name given to the environmental disaster that occurred as a result of the Ashio mining operations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This

663-509: The 1880s and the scene of the 1907 miners' riots. The pollution disaster led to the birth of the Japanese environmental movement and the 1897 Third Mine Pollution Prevention Order. It also triggered changes in the mine's operations, which had played a role in the 1907 riots, part of a string of mining disputes in 1907. During World War II the mine was worked by POW forced labour. Copper deposits are recorded as having been discovered in

714-583: The Ashio Copper Mine caused a major pollution disaster that rendered large swaths of farmland downstream of the Copper Mine unusable and resulted in major health damage of the people that lived in the affected area. In addition to this workers of the mine rioted in 1907 due to the low wages, initiating the 1907 Ashio Riot that resulted in them receiving higher wages and triggered other strikes and riots in similar industries. At greater depths, he found huge deposits of ore and production increased immensely. He used

765-546: The Edo period and the Ashio mine was almost closed at the time of the Meiji restoration . It became privately owned in 1871 following the industrialization initiated by the Meiji restoration , by which time production had dropped to less than 150 tons per year. In 1877, however, it became the property of Furukawa Ichibei , who then used the financial backing of Shibusawa Eiichi and the finding of new veins of copper to modernize and expand

816-455: The Tsūdō office and threw rocks at the windows through the evening, at which point the rioting ended for the day. Meanwhile, the local police asked the prefect-level police for help with the riot and ordered the miners' bosses to control their men. The police resorted to negotiating with the miners at a distance, and the bosses only watched the goings-on out of fear they would be attacked too. Early

867-445: The Watarase River valley, the Ashio Copper Mine was expanding and modernizing. The expansion in the 1880s and 1890s had brought electrification, which had brought telephones, all matter of mechanized technology, several kinds of separators and smelters—including a massive Bessemer smelter, a railway, and steam engines to haul the copper. In addition to technological developments, the mine also shifted from Tokugawa-era processing methods to

918-457: The area around the year 1550, but exploitation did not begin until two local households received an official permit in 1610 to establish a mine. In 1611, copper from the site was presented to officials of the shogunate; and shortly thereafter, Ashio was officially listed as a copper mine belonging to the Tokugawa shogunate . Copper, including that produced at the Ashio mine, played an important role in

969-524: The area, and meant that the towns downstream of the mines lost their flood protection. The first major flood came in 1890, and brought with it an unprecedented set of consequences. Instead of bringing a layer of silt that would help the next harvest, the 1890 flood brought silt contaminated by slag from the Ashio Copper Mine. This contaminated floodwater and silt destroyed all the vegetation it touched, rendered fields sterile, and caused workers in those fields to develop sores on their hands and feet. In 1896,

1020-495: The beginning of 1901, Tanaka questioned the government's response to the incident in the Diet. Then, in a speech in March 1901, he called the government treasonous over its treatment of the mine incident. After resigning from the Diet, he attempted to deliver a letter of appeal directly to Emperor Meiji himself. While Tanaka was prevented from handing over the letter, its contents were published by national newspapers, helping to publicise

1071-452: The blasting resulted in even more toxic chemicals entering the environment. In spite of promised plans to minimize pollution at the mine, environmental conditions in the vicinity of the Ashio Copper Mine continued to deteriorate. After additional severe flooding, local farmers petitioned minister of agriculture and commerce Enomoto Takeaki , as well as Japan's finance minister for relief, but were dismissed. In February 1897, Tanaka delivered

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1122-503: The company has 137 subsidiaries and affiliate companies across Japan , Europe , North and South America . This article about a Japanese corporation- or company-related topic is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Furukawa Ichibei Furukawa Ichibei ( 古河 市兵衛 , April 16, 1832 - April 5, 1903) was a Japanese businessman who founded one of the fifteen largest industrial conglomerates in Japan, specializing in electrical goods, chemicals and metals. He bought

1173-476: The destruction of the villages of Kawabe, Toshima, and Yanaka. Although the villages fought the proposition for two years, it was put into place in 1904. The government began buying out farmers in Yanaka in early 1906 and the destruction process began in 1907 and was completed in a few weeks. The basin that was created became a pond, Watarase Yusui-chi ( 渡良瀬遊水地 ), which became a UNESCO Ramsar site in 2012. In 1911,

1224-471: The early 1890s, farmers and local politicians in the area surrounding the Ashio Copper Mine were becoming increasingly concerned with the pollution resulting from the mine. One of these local politicians was Shōzō Tanaka , who had been elected to the National Diet in 1890. In 1891, after the disastrous 1890 flood, he gave a speech on the floor of the Diet calling on the government to close the mine because of

1275-445: The father realized that Furukawa was usually right and in time gave him free rein – a Japanese instance of fortiter in re, suaviter in modo . Furukawa made large profits in the raw silk trade, exporting his stock for foreign consumption. He also did well in the rice trade, while suffering severe losses at times - an early example of the vicissitudes of commodities trading. In spite of his successes in commerce, Furukawa felt

1326-469: The government passed the Factory Law, Japan's first law to address industrial pollution. The 1907 Ashio Riot occurred February 4–6, 1907, involved pit miners who had been demanding higher wages, and targeted mostly infrastructure and low-level mining officials. The riot resulted in higher wages and also triggered other strikes and riots in similar industries. The department with direct supervision over

1377-453: The great wealth he accumulated to establish his ideal industrial city in the mountains of Ashio. He built better homes for the miners, he installed schools for the young, he endowed hospitals, he built roads throughout the district, he provided instructive amusements for the working men, which was an unheard of thing in Japan at the time. He lived among the miners so far as the outside demands of his business would permit; when away from them he

1428-470: The industrial waste to a remote coast. The cost was great, but the work was completed under his own supervision in a short time. It was a triumph for the government and the people took it as an evidence that even the devil himself was no match for the imperial power of the Emperor. Although Furukawa might be seen as patriarchal in his ideas, and his scheme of government as monarchal, his influence remains, and he

1479-491: The local police began conducting searches through the miners' shacks in Hozan, which had been the center of the riots. From February 7 through February 9, authorities arrested 628 individuals, 182 of whom were prosecuted. On the afternoon of February 10, the pit managers at Hozan and Tsūdō informed the miners' representatives that the company would be firing all miners at both pits and requiring them to submit requests for rehiring by

1530-450: The mine and dying, and farmers had noticed changes in the color of the Watarase River as early as the 1870s—just as the copper mine was expanding. The river's fish population was plummeting, which put around 3000 fishermen in the area out of work. In addition, shoring up mine shafts, fueling steam engines and copper smelters, and building other facilities for the expanding mine required wood, which in turn led to large-scale deforestation in

1581-444: The mine itself early on February 4, when a group of miners destroyed the foreman's cabin for sections 3 and 4 in the Tsūdō mine pits. From there, more miners joined in and destroyed infrastructure in sections 1 and 2. The miners then began to leave the mine pits in groups and assembled in front of cabin at the entrance. Other miners who were still underground began to come aboveground later in the afternoon, when they gathered in front of

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1632-471: The mine with modern technology and foreign mining engineering expertise. By the 1880s production had increased dramatically, reaching 2286 tons by 1884, which accounted for 26 percent of Japan's copper production . A year later, the mine was producing over nine million tons, and by the end of the century, it accounted for 40 percent of Japan's copper production . During the Meiji period, arsenic trioxide became

1683-405: The miners attacked him. He managed to escape and hide while rioting miners attacked his house, but was attacked again when he tried to flee. He was then taken to the hospital and the miners left. At the same time, miners began to target company officials. The riot also spread to include bystanders who were more interested in the looting than the officials. By the late afternoon, the fuel warehouse

1734-463: The need to be directly involved with the working man. He yearned to be a captain of industry, desirous of expanding employment opportunities for his compatriots, as unemployment was a serious problem in Japan. He had aspirations similar to a few pioneering industrialists in the West who wished to improve the lot of the working man and to expand the demand for his services. He also had benevolent ideas on raising

1785-492: The next day, miners attacked the cabins at the Sunokobashi mine pits, threatened the staff there, and cut telephone lines. Meanwhile, a large group of miners also gathered at the Honzan Ariki mine pits, where the electric trucks in the mine were stopped and some officials in one of the underground section cabins were injured. The extent of the damage from the first two days of the riot included several cabins and barns, eight trucks,

1836-452: The next day. After debate, the majority of the miners accepted the company's demand and submitted the requests. On the afternoon of February 12, the company announced who they were and were not rehiring. The majority of the miners were rehired. In the days after the mine resumed operations on February 13, miners at Kodaki, the only pits where rioting did not occur, became increasingly uneasy. They wanted to know why they were being affected by

1887-558: The pit miners was the Pits Department. The Pits Department was divided into four sections, three for the pits at Honzan, Tsūdō, and Kodaki, and one for a survey office responsible for gathering statistics on the other three sections. Each mine pit was divided into three sections: extraction, dressing, and general affairs, each with its own supervisor. Within the pits themselves, they were divided into 7 or 8 districts, with one guardpost for every one or two districts. The riot began within

1938-533: The plight of residents, which prompted the government to act. However the problem did not immediately go away, and protests continued for some years. In 1902, another major flood occurred; but because of the Order, the floodwaters spread much less pollution than they had previously. In December of the same year, the creation of a basin to prevent further flood damage was discussed by the Japanese government's Pollution Prevention Committee. The location of this basin involved

1989-434: The pollution. The government did not respond. In 1892, He challenged the government again, and the government responded that there were plans in place at the mine to minimize further pollution and declared the issue to be closed. In the meantime, the engineers at the mine responded to local concerns by using dynamite to blast the piles of slag that were the byproducts of the mine's mass extraction. Regardless of their intentions,

2040-404: The remonstrances of his friends and relatives, and remained busy, and with his usual amazing success, until the end. He first introduced machinery in the sericulture of Japan, thereby extending the production of silk. He preceded all others in the use of electric lights and power in his coal mines and he established the first coke ovens in Japan. He eagerly adopted all modern improvements, and

2091-405: The response from the company caused miners at Ashio to fear that the order was threatening their jobs. Within four years of the passage of the 1897 order, Tanaka was complaining about the order as well. Having observed that the environmental damage in the area surrounding the mine had continued to increase in spite of the order, he continued to call for the mine to be closed. Several times through

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2142-427: The riot totaled over 283,000 yen. The Ashio mine's Excavation Department was closed in 1973, after centuries of mining and the introduction of foreign copper ore into the Japanese market. By this time, the total length of its tunnels and shaft had reached 1234 kilometers. Smelting business continued at the mine using imported ore until 1989. Afterwards, the site was used for recycling industrial waste . In 1980,

2193-415: The riot's consequences if they had not participated. On February 26 the new mine director, Kondō Rikusaburō, informed the miners at Kodaki that they would be receiving bonuses for their non-involvement in the riot. On February 27 and 28, Kondō Rikusaburō visited the Hozan and Tsūdō mine pits to inform the miners that wage increases were coming and bonuses would be paid to the miners who were not involved in

2244-505: The solidification of Tokugawa rule in the early part of the 1600s and later became Japan's chief metal export after 1685. Copper from the mine was used in the minting of Kan'ei Tsūhō copper coins and in the roofing for the Shoganate's temple of Zōjō-ji in Edo . At its peak, the mine produced about 1,200 tons annually; however, Japan's mining industry began to decline during the latter part of

2295-471: The standard of living for the working classes, espousing methods of making provision for old age, and suitable foundations to help toward that end. The opportunity to fulfill his dream came about as the result of the failure of a Japanese firm, which has considerable consequence in the business of the empire. Furukawa had reflected upon the opportunities in mining. He bought out a failing copper mine and as he found mining to his liking, he bought another after

2346-401: The wealth of the mines, in spite of the fact that the wealth of the whole region and nation benefited from it. When the enormous pollution from the mines began to affect the health of the inhabitants of the region, they felt that their suspicions were confirmed. After riots ensued, the government stepped in and demanded a remedy. In response, Furukawa built a system of tunnels and canals to carry

2397-462: Was Japan's first major pollution disaster, and has also been credited by historians as leading to the birth of the Japanese environmental movement. As the Ashio Copper Mine's production boomed in the 1870s and 1880s, people living downstream from the mine, along the Watarase and Tone rivers, began to notice changes in the area around them. Colonies of silkworms were eating mulberry leaves from near

2448-634: Was a Japanese businessman who founded one of the fifteen largest industrial conglomerates in Japan, called Furukawa zaibatsu , to which Furukawa Electric belongs to this day. The company is listed on the Tokyo stock Exchange and is constituent of the Nikkei 225 stock index . Furukawa Electric aids CERN's experiments on the search for the Higgs boson with its superconducting magnet wires . The company's products also include superconductivity cables. As of July 2013

2499-407: Was a good customer for American inventors and manufacturers. This article incorporates text from OpenHistory. Ashio Copper Mine The Ashio Copper Mine ( 足尾銅山 , Ashio Dōzan ) was a copper mine located in the town of Ashio, Tochigi (now part of the city of Nikkō, Tochigi ), in the northern Kantō region of Japan . It was the site of Japan's first major pollution disaster in

2550-445: Was nothing more than a plain citizen of Tokyo. All the while he was extending his operations. He bought ten more mines of coal and of copper, in different districts of Japan. So huge was his wealth and influence that superstitious people began to believe that he might be a demon and that all his beneficence was simply a ploy to gain control over them. This was especially so among neighbouring communities who did not benefit directly from

2601-435: Was set on fire. Meanwhile, the local and prefecture-level police were unable to come up with a plan to respond to the riot, more police had been ordered to the area, and the prefecture's governor had requested military assistance in responding to the riot. The troops left for Ashio late on the 6th, and arrived in the afternoon the next day. Three companies of troops arrived at Ashio after the riot had ended. Once they arrived,

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