In the 1905 year, the Amagi Tunnel was opened as a tunnel connecting Izu City and Kawazu Town in Kamo District, Shizuoka Prefecture, at a total cost of 103,016 yen (more than $5.300 at the current exchange rate), a large amount of money for that period.
The opening of the tunnel shortened the distance between South Izu and North Izu, which had been called the isolated islands of the land, and eliminated the difficult path across Amagi, thus playing a major role in the transportation of Izu. It is also the first stone road tunnel in Japan and the longest one, with a total length of 445.5 meters and a width of 4.12 meters.
In 1970, a new Amagi Tunnel was opened, and has been the setting for many literary works, including the novel "Izu no Odoriko" (The Izu Dancer) by Yasunari Kawabata and the novel "Amagi-goe" (Walk Over Amagi Pass) by Seicho Matsumoto.