The Tenryu Pit Material Incline: A Brick Arch with a Name Carved in Stone
Above the half-circle of this brick arch sits a carved stone plaque reading Tenryu-ko, the name of the pit it served. The detail is worth pausing over, because it tells you this was no rough working entrance. The portal of the Tenryu pit material incline was built with care, in brick laid five courses thick, framing a semicircular arch of four metres span, with pilasters and a cornice dressing its face. For a mine entrance, it has the bearing of architecture.
This was the mouth through which materials and equipment moved into the Tenryu pit, one of two surviving brick portals here. Its partner, the man-car incline portal that carried workers, stands a short way to the west. Both date to 1900, making them among the older brick structures of the Yubari field, and both belong to the second mining district, the part of the Hokutan Yubari colliery that produced the largest output in the company's Yubari operation.
Why It Stands as a Key Survivor
The portal was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2006, under number 01-0072, in the same batch as the man-car portal and the spoil-line structures. The cultural agency describes the material and man-car portals together as among the representative remains of the second district, the most productive ground in the colliery. The listing category here is "other constructed work," reflecting that this is a pit mouth rather than a bridge or a building, and the reason for protection is its contribution to the historic landscape.
The Tenryu pit itself has a layered history. It opened as the colliery's third incline around the turn of the twentieth century. According to the city of Yubari, pit names here were drawn from rivers, a practice tied to a wish to avoid fire, and the third incline was renamed Tenryu in 1918. The pit also carries a heavy memory: the city records a disaster in 1938 that claimed 161 lives, after which the entrance was closed. The dressed brick portal that survives is the dignified public face of a working place that held both productivity and danger.
What to Look for at the Portal
Start with the brickwork. Five courses of brick give the arch real depth, and the semicircular curve over a four-metre span is broad and confident. Then read the face: the pilasters, the cornice, and above all the carved Tenryu-ko plaque turn a functional opening into a marked threshold, the kind of treatment that signalled the pit's standing within the colliery.
The portal sits within the heritage cluster around the Yubari City Coal Mine Museum, whose model gallery, cut into a real coal seam and reopened in 2025 after a long closure, makes use of the Tenryu pit's own workings. Seeing the museum gallery and these brick portals on the same visit links the inside of the mine with its entrances. Conditions at outdoor mining remains vary, so the museum is the practical anchor for a visit, with the portals read as the historic faces of the pit it interprets.
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Q&A
- What does the carved plaque say?
- It reads Tenryu-ko, the name of the pit. The carved stone plaque set above the arch identifies the entrance and gives the portal its dressed, formal character.
- What was this entrance used for?
- It was the material incline portal, the mouth through which equipment and supplies moved into the Tenryu pit. Its companion portal nearby carried the workers themselves.
- Why was the pit named Tenryu?
- According to the city of Yubari, pits here were named after rivers in connection with a wish to avoid fire. The third incline was renamed Tenryu in 1918.
- How old is the portal?
- It dates to 1900, which places it among the older brick structures in the Yubari field. It was registered as a cultural property on 18 October 2006.
- Can I connect this to the coal museum?
- Yes. The museum's model gallery, reopened in 2025, uses the Tenryu pit's own workings, so the portals and the gallery together show the pit from outside and inside.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Hokutan Yubari Colliery Tenryu Pit Material Incline Portal |
|---|---|
| Location | Takamatsu, Yubari City, Hokkaido |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registered 18 October 2006, No. 01-0072 |
| Date | 1900 (Meiji 33) |
| Structure | Brick portal; width 7.2 m; semicircular arch of four-metre span, brick five courses thick; pilasters, cornice, and a carved "Tenryu-ko" plaque |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Access | In the museum heritage area at Takamatsu; verify current access locally |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005705
- Cultural Heritage Online (National Institutes for Cultural Heritage)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/185613
- Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Yubari City, City of Yubari
- https://www.city.yubari.lg.jp/soshiki/14/1706.html
Last verified: 2026.06.25