Nirayama Reverberatory Furnace

Nirayama Reverberatory Furnace

MUSEUM

The Nirayama Reververatory Furnace is an iron smelting facility in Izunokuni built by the Tokugawa government in 1857 during the Meiji Industrial Revolution. It represents the start of modern iron production in Japan and is the most complete furnace still standing in Japan. It received world heritage status in the summer of 2015.

The furnace has a large car park, as well as a gift shop and visitor centre (signs in Japanese) for anyone visiting. They also have English tours by local volunteers and English pamphlets for anyone wanting a simple English explanation.

Review

Honestly speaking, the furnace was a little underwhelming. At the entrance there is a small museum about the history of the furnace but it is very text heavy and can get crowded very quickly.

Upon leaving the museum, we were immediately approached by a local Japanese volunteer, wanting to explain everything to us in English. It is a very popular tourist destination so it is always full of volunteers wanting to test out their English. If you are very introverted and don’t want to talk to enthusiastic locals it may be hard for you to say no. The tour itself was pretty short and the locals seemed to have memorised a script so unless you get lucky and find a volunteer with a good grasp of English you may want to steer clear of asking questions.

There isn’t must to the furnace, although there is a small river walk where you can take photos. I would definitely recommend planning more in your schedule if you plan on visiting the furnace as I doubt it would even take an hour to walk around if you’re reading everything thoroughly.

At the exist there is a gift shop, filled with local delicacies and tourist goods. Each area in Japan has its own local specialty so if you don’t mind the price it may be a good place to get some local gifts. It is also home to some very strange drink flavours. We tried the melon bread and curry flavours, which were very true to taste but not something I think should ever have been made into drink form.

ADDRESS

Nirayama Reverberatory Furnace,
268 Naka,
Izunokuni,
Shizuoka Prefecture,
410-2113

+81559493450 (Japanese only)
https://www.city.izunokuni.shizuoka.jp/bunka_bunkazai/manabi/bunkazai/hansyaro/ (English and Japanese)
https://www.city.izunokuni.shizuoka.jp/hansyaro/manabi/bunkazai/hansyaro/documents/english.pdf (English pamphlet)

RECOMMENDED ROUTE:

Nirayama Revereratory Furnance has plenty of parking for anyone arriving by car. For public transport, either take the Izu Hakone Tetsudo Line to Izunagaoka station and walk 30 minutes or you can take the hourly loop bus from the station.