Spot

　　　　　　This area, now a part of Himeji Port, was once known as the Shikamatsu Loading Wharf (Shikamatsu Monoageba). It was the termination point of the Ikuno Mine Office Carriage Road (Ikuno Kozanryo Bashamichi) – now the Silver Carriage Road (Gin no Bashamichi) – which allowed the transport of silver and other materials from the mines in northern Hyogo to factories along the Seto Inland Sea. The road and wharf improved the speed and safety of this transport, and their construction was one of the Meiji government’s earliest projects during the country’s rapid industrialization in the Meiji Period (1868–1912). French engineer Léon Sisley (1847–1878) designed both the forty-nine-kilometer road and the Shikamatsu Loading Wharf. Construction began in 1873 and finished in 1876.

                 By 1894, Japan’s infrastructure had developed to the point that ore from the northern mines could be transported by rail, and the Shikamatsu Loading Wharf was no longer needed. Asada Chemical Industry bought it from the government, and now uses it as a factory. All that remains today of the original wharf are a few parts of the walls that make up the brick storage buildings.