"The cinnabar produced in the Niu area of Seiwa Village has been mined and utilized by humans since the Jomon period (1200-300 BC), leaving behind over a hundred mining sites. The earliest historical record dates to 698 AD, when it was presented to the Japanese imperial family along with orpiment as precious medicinal materials. For over a millennium thereafter, it continued to be extracted for gold mining purposes. Over time, the locality was named "Niu" (丹生) after the cinnabar's alternative name "丹土" and the concept of "production" (生産).

By the end of the Muromachi period (1336-1573), trade with China had flooded Japan with inexpensive cinnabar, leading to the gradual cessation of domestic mercury mining. This hiatus persisted until 1940, when 北村覚蔵( Kitamura Kakuzō )—a Tokyo antiquarian bookseller—returned to his hometown and independently began prospecting mercury deposits in the Niu area. He even constructed a DIY distillation apparatus, laying the crucial technical foundation for the eventual revival of the Niu Mine.

In 1954, during the redevelopment of the Niu Mine, 芳子(Yoshiko) (wife of the late 北村覚蔵(Kitamura Kakuzō) used her husband's surviving engineering blueprints to collaborate with developers in reconstructing the distillation furnace. This achieved integrated production from mining to smelting—though only on a small scale. By 1968, the reorganized developers planned to scale up mercury extraction. However, that very year marked Japan's official public acknowledgment of Minamata disease (a mass mercury poisoning incident first identified around 1956 in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture).

Consequently, due to environmental concerns and dwindling demand, the Yamatosuigin Mine Refinery in Nara Prefecture—managed by the same company operating the Niu Mine—never achieved large-scale mercury production. During this period, the mercury ore extracted from the Niu Mine could not find suitable refining facilities. On November 30, 1973, the Niu Mine was permanently closed. Today, only its remnants remain." (Boyuan Zhang)

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