Tonaru

TonaruBesshi copper mineNiihamaindustrial ruinsSumitomo

Ehime · Niihama

33.8927°N, 133.3157°E

Besshi was worked for copper from 1691 to 1973, for two hundred and eighty-two years, and it built the Sumitomo group. Tonaru, at 750 metres up the mountain behind Niihama, was the mine's operating centre from 1916 to 1930 and had a population of around five thousand — a town with a school, a hospital, shops and a theatre, on a mountainside reachable only by cableway and mountain path.

It was abandoned and the forest came back. What remains is terraced brick and stone retaining walls, ore hopper foundations and an inclined haulage cut, stepping up the slope in the trees, which is why it is called the Machu Picchu of the East. The road up from Maintopia Besshi is twenty-five minutes of hairpins; a bus runs twice a day. There is a small museum and a mine adit that can be entered.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Site accessible in daylight | Museum and adit keep their own hours | Maintopia Besshi open year-round

Closed: Mountain road affected by winter conditions — confirm before travelling

Entrance Fee

Museum and mine adit at Tonaru charged separately | Maintopia facilities priced individually

Best Season

Late April–May for fresh green | Late October–November for autumn colour

Visit Duration

Half a day including the drive

Getting There

Access Information

Tachikawa-cho, Niihama, at around 750 m elevation above Maintopia Besshi. About 25 minutes by car up a narrow winding mountain road from Maintopia Besshi, or by a bus service running twice a day from Maintopia in season. The Besshi Copper Mine Memorial Museum and mine adit at Tonaru charge separately. Maintopia Besshi at the foot of the mountain is open year-round and runs a mine tourist train, about 5 minutes, three times an hour.

Insider Guide

Premium

**The road up is narrow and winding.** Twenty-five minutes of hairpins with limited passing. If that is a problem, the seasonal bus from Maintopia is the alternative — it runs twice a day. **Fresh green and autumn are the seasons.** The brick terraces read best against foliage, and in winter the road is worse. **Five thousand people lived here.** School, hospital, shops, at 750 metres, supplied by cableway. That fact is what makes the ruins affecting rather than picturesque. **Go into the adit.** The mine tunnel and the small museum at Tonaru are charged separately and give the industrial context the ruins do not spell out. **Maintopia is the base.** The roadside station at the foot has the tourist train, an onsen and parking, and is where the Tonaru bus leaves from.

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