Don&#8217;t throw trash into the sea!&#8221;
 Mitsuhiro Yaeno, 75, a gold reserve hunter, said as he grimly picked up a lump of iron that had come out of the ground. The wind was blowing at 10 m/s that day, and a light rain was blowing on his raincoat.
 There is a possibility that dozens to hundreds of koban from the late Edo period lie on Shiomi Beach in Tateyama City,&#8221; he said. It&#8217;s really exciting, like a man&#8217;s romance. But, dig after dig, all you find is trash, so from the outside it looks like a volunteer cleanup job (laughs).
<figure id="attachment_310756" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310756" style="width: 4032px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1d1aa586"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/IMG_3395-2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310756" class="wp-caption-text"> At 11:00 a.m., Mr. Yaeno and three other members of the Treasure Hunting Club began their search. Each of them had a metal detector, and their strategy was to conduct a comprehensive search.</figcaption></figure>
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 In spite of the bad weather, Mr. Yaeno continued to search silently for koban, making full use of the metal detector. It is no wonder he is so fascinated. In fact, a rare and valuable koban has already been discovered on the Shiomi Coast.
<figure id="attachment_310758" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310758" style="width: 1751px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ca900024"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/1-2-e1683876303254.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310758" class="wp-caption-text"> The discovered Genbun koban, now owned by the Tateyama City Museum. It is now in the collection of the Tateyama City Museum.</figcaption></figure>
 In July 2005, a 76-year-old man living nearby discovered a golden Genbun koban (market value about 300,000) buried in the sand while taking a walk on the beach. It was only reported on the local news and did not cause a nationwide commotion. &#8230;&#8230; The fact that one koban was found means that there is a high possibility that there are still others buried in the sand. That is why I set my sights on this untouched spot on the Shiomi Coast,&#8221; Yaeno said.
 The Genbun koban was produced in 1736, during the reign of the 8th shogun, Yoshimune Tokugawa, and remained in circulation for 83 years. Why is such a koban buried on the Shiomi Coast? The key to solving this mystery lies in an ancient document. Mr. Yaeno said, &#8220;The first koban was found.
<figure id="attachment_310750" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310750" style="width: 3024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ae8e2eb9"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/IMG_3385-2-e1683876107664.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310750" class="wp-caption-text"> Mr. Yaeno showing where the first koban was found.</figcaption></figure>
 It is said that ships carrying large quantities of tribute rice and other goods from the Tohoku region to Edo (present-day Tokyo) used to come and go off the coast of At least three of those ships were sunk. We know that at least three of these vessels sank. I suspect that what was found on the Shiomi Coast may have been koban that drifted ashore from one of the sunken transports. This beach, which juts out like a key nail toward Tokyo Bay, is often washed ashore by drifting debris. It would not be surprising if the koban had drifted ashore from a sunken ship.&#8221;
 As investigators continued their research, they discovered that one of the three sunken transports may have been carrying large sums of money.
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 The ship that operated in the area was said in old documents to have carried Nada sake ordered by Kashimaya,&#8221; he said. Kashimaya is a sake wholesaler that operated for more than 200 years from the mid-Edo period.&#8217; It is famous for the discovery in 1963 of a buried treasure worth 60 million at that time&#8217;s price, or 1 billion yen today. However, what was found here on the Shiomi Coast was not the koban that Kashimaya&#8217;s ship was carrying. It may have drifted ashore from the other two ships, or it may have been a more special ship not mentioned in ancient documents&#8221; (Yaeno).
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Mr. Yaeno began his treasure hunt on the Shiomi Coast in &#8217;14. Even though he expanded the scope of his search, he was unable to find any results. Last year, however, there was a hopeful development. Mr. Yaeno explains.
 Last summer, we received a call from someone who had found a second koban. In fact, five or six years ago, a family was swimming at another beach and found a shiny object in an octopus-shaped box. That was the Genbun koban, and the fact that two of them turned up means &#8230;&#8230; that we have the feeling that we are definitely getting closer to the koban, step by step.&#8221;
<figure id="attachment_310760" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310760" style="width: 2399px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c6feff86"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/IMG_3401-1-e1683876397174.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310760" class="wp-caption-text"> Ten minutes into the search, the metal detector beeped. Ten minutes into the search, the metal detector gave a loud &#8220;beep! but what came out after digging was a piece of iron that appeared to be one end of a chain.</figcaption></figure>
 For the past nine years, Mr. Yaeno has visited Shiomi Beach two to three times a year with his friends to search for koban. They used a metal detector to check the surfaces of the waves, and underwater they surveyed the area visible from the water&#8217;s surface. In the future, he says, &#8220;I would like to do a full-scale underwater search.
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<figure id="attachment_310763" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310763" style="width: 2782px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="123e871b"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/IMG_3393-1-e1683876528576.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310763" class="wp-caption-text"> Mr. Yaeno&#8217;s handmade equipment. The shape is suitable for digging for koban on the beach and in the ocean.</figcaption></figure>
 Anyone can safely and casually dig for buried gold on the Shiomi Coast,&#8221; Yaeno said. Everyone is welcome to come with their families and friends. I hope the movement to search for buried gold will spread throughout the country,&#8221; Yaeno said.
 All we found that day was an iron chain and a piece of metal, but if the old documents are correct, there are koban (small gold coins) worth several million yen buried on the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture.
<figure id="attachment_310764" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310764" style="width: 4032px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="059bd539"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/IMG_3406-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310764" class="wp-caption-text"> Mr. Yaeno stares at the spot where the metal detector reacted.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_310765" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310765" style="width: 4032px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a33445b6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/IMG_3411-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310765" class="wp-caption-text"> The detector is designed to detect a finer range of objects, and the detailed location of the object is determined.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_310766" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-310766" style="width: 3024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9d107ea8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/IMG_3421-1-e1683876635338.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-310766" class="wp-caption-text"> The higher the number displayed on the screen, the more likely it is that the metal is gold.</figcaption></figure>

 Don't dump garbage in the sea!" Mitsuhiro Yaeno, 75, a gold reserve hunter, sneered as he picked up a lump of iron that had come out of the ground. The wind was blowing at 10 m/s that day, and a light rain was blowing on his raincoat.

Koban Zakzaku in Tateyama, Chiba!　Follow the search for buried gold hunters!

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Koban Zakzaku in Tateyama, Chiba! Follow the search for buried gold hunters!

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Koban Zakzaku in Tateyama, Chiba!　Follow the search for buried gold hunters!