Mizu Shrine & Yamada Weir

 

Down below Esohachimangu Shrine is the Yamada Weir, and immediately next to it is Mizu Shrine.

Yamada Weir was started, by hand, in the mid 17th century and completed in the late 18th century. The Chikugo River is the longest river in Kyushu and classed as one of the three rivers in Japan most likely to flood. The water diverted by the weir runs into a major irrigation canal that includes the Waterwheels of Asakura.

The shrine must have been established at that time as its name, mizu shrine, means water shrine.

The weir is registered as a World Heritage Irrigation Sructure and is said to be the model used by Dr. Tetsu Nakamura who constructed a major irrigation project in the desert of Afghanistan. Since his assassination in 2019 a monument to him has been erected at Yamada Weir