History
Since before the twelfth century, Sado was viewed as a suitably remote place for former emperors, outspoken monks and out-of-favour actors, as well as more ordinary criminals. The most illustrious exile was the ex-emperor Juntoku (reigned 1211-21), who tried to wrest power back from the Kamakura and spent the last twenty years of his life on Sado. A few decades later, Nichiren, the founder of the eponymous Buddhist sect , found himself on the island for a couple of years after 1271, where he wasted no time in erecting temples and converting the local populace. Finally, Zeami, a famous actor and playwright credited with formalizing No theatre, died here in 1443 after eight years in exile; though he had certainly fallen out of favour at court, the exact reasons for his banishment aren't clear. In 1601 rich seams of gold and silver were discovered in the mountains above Aikawa. From then on, criminals were sent to work in the mines, supplemented by "homeless" workers from Edo (Tokyo), who dug some 400km of tunnels down to 600m below sea level - all by hand. In 1896 Mitsubishi took the mines over from the imperial household and today they're owned by the Sado Gold Mining Co, who continued to extract small quantities of gold up until 1989
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