Salt Farming in Yashima
The region around the Seto Inland Sea has long been famous for its salt production, and salt from Kagawa remains highly prized for its flavor and mineral content.
The region that is now Kagawa Prefecture, along with neighboring regions, has been producing salt since the Middle Yayoi period (100 BCE–100 CE). In Yashima, production began in the Late Yayoi period (100–300 CE), when people started boiling water from the Seto Inland Sea in clay pots to extract salt. In the Uro area, on the west coast of Yashima, fragments of earthenware used for salt production can still be found at sites like Unoha Shrine.
Large-scale salt production using salt pans became common by the middle of the Edo period (1603–1867), and land off the southwestern shore of Yashima was reclaimed and used for salt panning. The traditional salt industry around Yashima slowly declined in the twentieth century, and the last salt farms closed in 1971. Salt is still produced using more modern methods, however, in other parts of Kagawa Prefecture.