A STUDY OF THE CUSTOMS RELATING TO THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM OF THE TAKINA RIVER FAN AND ITS RECLAMATION

Abstract

The purpose of this study lies in the reconstruction of the customs relating to the irrigation system of Takina Riven Fan, Shiwa-mura, Iwate Prefecture, in Tohoku district, clarifying its origin and thus describing the process of its reclamation. The results of the study are summarized as follows :1. The greater part of the paddy fields in the fan used to be irrigated with the water from Takina River and the insufficient supply of water often resulted in quarrels over the allocation system of water for each field.2. Takina River had 27 irrigation ditches and the ditches in the upper reaches of the river have a better supply water than the ditches down the river. The river water was entirely monopolized by the 9 ditches up the river, while 18 ditches down the river were obliged to use the water under the river bed. The superiority of the 9 ditches in the water concessions right, was reclamated earlier in the middle ages than the 18 ditches.3. Of the 27 ditches of Takina River, the second ditch in the upper most reaches of the river, used to enjoy the greatest supply of water than any other ditch. Because the ditch supplied water to the paddy fields and to the moats round the feudal lord's castle in the middle ages. Later in the feudal times the paddy fields irrigated by Kosuizi-seki were all possessions of the original house of the feudal lord “Morioka-Han, while the fields down the river belonged to the families which descended from it.4. The field up the ditches enjoyed sufficent wat ersupply all day, while those down the ditches were irrigated periodically, i, e, by the “Bansui” system of water allocation. The upper part of those fields were irrigated from the sunrise till the sunset and the lower part during the night. The fields irrigated during the day, that is, much longer time than the other fields, occupied much smaller area than the others so that their supply of water was immensely better than the others. It was discovered that the people generally had an idea that the fields in the upper part of the fan soak water more quickly than those in the lower part. But the author believes that their idea is a creation which goes back a little more than half a century and that it cannot properly explain the customs of the irrigation system of the fan.5. The customs of the irrigation system of Takina River were established in the processes of the reclamation work in the middle ages. The fields reclamated earlier had a superior right in allocating the water to those of later reclamation. The existence of such a right for about 500-600 years till the construction of Sannokai Dam in 1954 which had almost abolished. It is indeed a very peculiar example in Japan.