ABSTRACT
The immense copper deposits in the mountains at Ashio, 15 miles south-west of Nikko, are said to have been first discovered in 1608. A Zen temple was the first owner of the site, and for many years extraction continued on a very modest, almost private scale, though in 1635 Ashio copper was used in the roof of the celebrated mausoleum of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu, at Nikko.
