Hino

Hino occupies the wooded upper valley of the Hino River in the mountains of Hōki. Its streams and hills yielded iron sand, while the forests supplied charcoal for the traditional tatara furnaces. The local steel known as Inga-hagane was prized for making blades. During the Edo period, washing hillsides to extract iron sand sent large quantities of sediment down the river, helping extend the shoreline near its mouth.