Author(s): Toshiyuki Moriyama

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: Kiyomasa KATO; Tetsu NAKAMURA; Diagonal weir; Willow trees and gabions; Green infrastracture

Abstract: Approximately 400 years ago, in the Sengoku era, Kiyomasa Kato developed three rivers - the Shira-kawa River, the Midori-kawa River and the Kikuchi-gawa River - in Kumamoto Prefecture in the Kyushu district of Japan, using traditional river engineering methods. The residents of this watershed called Kiomasa the god of water control. Two hundred thirty years later, during the Edo Period, the Yamada-zeki Weir at Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture, was constructed to regulate the flow of the Chikugo-gawa River, the largest river in Kyushu, and to direct water to the region’s paddy fields. Remarkably, this highly effective weir was constructed without large-scale equipment. Moreover, there has been little impact on the ecosystem. Now, wisdom from the Edo era is being applied in an effort to save the world. As a prominent example, in 2010, a Peshawar Association NGO, which for 30 years has been providing support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, completed construction of a weir and a waterway using the Yamada-zeki Weir as a model.

DOI:

Year: 2020