js33 the muko river

The Mukogawa does not neatly divide Sanda in two. Nor does it provide a lifeline for commerce. Or even the paasage for a canoe. It was almost certainly once a healthy flowing force that flooded now and then and spilled into fecund rice paddies, into the old 'three fields' that gives Sanda its name today. The flow was cut to a trickle by damming, then the banks and river floor were concretized (I never knew of this verb before living in Japan) and so, it is as it is today.

I've have seen this so often in Japan that it becomes like a repeat horror flick. Beautiful rivers with the potential to create a hundred little Parisian scenes (with a Japanese twist, of course) are sacrificed on the altar of pork-barrelling politics and irrational fear. This happens everywhere, but it's particularly sad in a country with such an aesthetic for beauty and harmony, as Japan.

Nevertheless, at least once a year, the river comes alive with human activity, much as it once did regularly, long ago. At the O-Bon Festival in the heat of summer, goldfish are put into a netted off-section of the Mukogawa, and children with nets descend from the banks to try their luck. It's a lovely site, a modern representation of an ancient practice, though the fish were not captives in olden times.

So here are two shots of the Mukogawa in the summer of 2006, looking towards the old town centre.