2022.08.01
Izumisano City's "Yukawa Watercourse" has been selected as a Japanese candidate for the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) 2022.
"Yukawa Watercourse", applied for by Izumisano Hineno Land Improvement District to ICID's domestic committee, will be submitted to ICID headquarters.
In addition, "Kanuki Watercourse" in Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, and "Teradani Watercourse" in Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture, will also apply.
After submitting the application to ICID headquarters, the review board will review and select the application from each country. The results will be presented at the ICID International Executive Council in Adelaide, Australia, in early October.
Today's Yukawa Watercourse
"Yukawa Watercourse - A medieval irrigation system from the Kujo Family"
· Yukawa Watercourse is an irrigation canal that existed about 800 years ago.
· Although there are many theories about when the watercourse was formed, a drawing of the village in 1316 shows that some of the watercourse was already in use.
·The Hineno area, once the territory of the nobility and there was a vast wilderness. Expanding agricultural reclamation area is one of the important tasks at that time.
·From its inception point at the Tsuchimaru Sluice Gate, the Yukawa Watercourse passes through the grounds of Hine Jinja Shrine and Jigen-in Temple before reaching its destination of Junidaniike Pond.
·The watercourse was engineered to let water flow over a total length of approximately 2.75 kilometers with a change in elevation of about 3 meters. It continues to serve as the main watercourse in the Hineno area for irrigation in a wide geographical area.
· Currently, among the agricultural canals still in use in Japan, only Yukawa Watercourse is designated as a national historic site. Yukawa Watercourse is a precious heritage that we can learn about the history of reclamation from the Middle Ages.
