By Tim Mansfield

In June this year, the "International Specialist Seminar Concerning the Outstanding Universal Value and Conservation Management of Mine Sites" was held in Oda City, just a few kilometres from the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine. The rambling title of this seminar was one of the first things I was asked to translate when introduced to the event earlier this year as part of my duties as Coordinator for International Relations at the Shimane International Center. This was my second time to be involved in an event related to the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and while, this time around, I knew a little more about the Iwami area of Shimane, silver mines and World Heritage, it was still a steep learning curve over the months leading up to the seminar.

After inspection of the site, specialists from overseas were interviewed by Japanese media.

There is a tendency for some to consider the World Heritage list as a travel guide that highlights must-see natural and cultural sites throughout the world. While inscription on the list does often lead to increased visitor numbers, the fundamental principle behind World Heritage is about protection and preservation. It is about making sure that the natural and cultural heritages of our world are still around for generations into the future. There are many fine examples of natural beauty or cultural heritage in the world, but to make the list, there must be proof that the site is of value to all humanity. Something this valuable is said to be of "Outstanding Universal Value," one of the first terms I learnt when I started working with material related to the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine.

The rules that govern World Heritage are embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. As of 31st March 2005, 180 States have signed the convention, of which 134 have sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. Currently 788 properties including 611 cultural properties, 151 natural properties and 23 mixed properties are on the list, including twelve sites in Japan. Some of Japan's more famous World Heritage Sites include Himeji Castle, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) and the Itsukushima Shinto Shrine on Miyajima Island. The Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan and the Shimane Prefectural Government are working hard to prepare a World Heritage recommendation document for the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine Site so that by 2007 it may gain approval by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO to join these properties on the list.

The difference between Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and those sites Japan already has on the World Heritage List is that it is not immediately obvious that the site is "outstanding." Its mine shafts are hidden deep within mountains and the remains of infrastructure, such as smelting and refining sites, are hidden under bamboo trees and forest greenery. It is a site that needs to be explored and explained, rather than admired from a distance. The purpose of this year's international specialist seminar was to identify what it was
that made the site of outstanding universal value and discuss a range of issues regarding the management of the site.

Seminar participants were given a tour of the mine site, including the mabu mine shafts

Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine was one of Japan's most prominent mines and operated for almost four hundred years until its closure in 1923. It was the only mine in Japan to be noted on maps created by European explorers in the 16th century and played a significant role in shaping the East Asian economy and in encouraging trade and cultural exchange between the East and the West. The site is also important because its ruins reveal processes of manual mining technology that, due to the political isolation of Japan during the Edo period (1603-1868), developed independently from European mining technologies. Evidence of these processes have been well preserved because silver in the area was mined till exhaustionﾑby the time new technology arrived, there was little silver left to mine. The site is also unique because it tells the full story of Japanese mining: from extraction and refinement to the transport of silver to nearby ports. Interestingly, it is the fact that the mine's tunnels and refineries have been concealed by natural forest that make the site unique; it is the forests that have kept these remains undisturbed for so many years. Such factors regarding the mine's "outstanding universal value" were highlighted and discussed by participants of the seminar, and will eventually form the basis of the site's application for World Heritage status.

The hosting of such international seminars demonstrates the combined efforts of Shimane Prefecture and The Agency for Cultural Affairs to make sure their recommendation to the World Heritage Committee is successful. If it is, Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine could be the first industrial site in Japan to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. Of course, inscription is neither an end point nor a beginning, but rather a milestone along a long path that will hopefully ensure that the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine will be around well into the future.

By the time this article is in print, I will have left Japan to return to my home country, Australia. I will take home with me the experience of being involved, even in a small way, in this historical process. I certainly hope that the next time I visit Japan I will have the opportunity to return to Shimane Prefecture and, maybe then, I will be able to explore the mineshafts of the "Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine World Heritage Site."