KYOTO - Once a thriving canal, Kyoto’s Takase River, which flows through the Kiyamachi entertainment district in central Kyoto, has completed a long-running restoration project after 15 years, reviving a waterway that prospered during the Edo period as a key link between the city center and Fushimi.
The river, later immortalized as the setting of Mori Ogai’s novel Takasebune, is a well-known tourist spot, but footage taken in 2010 showed sections of the riverbed exposed after water levels dropped so sharply that parts of the channel ran dry.
Kyoto City says water began leaking around 2006 from deteriorating stone embankments, causing repeated declines in water levels, with downstream sections from Sanjo Street at one point completely drying up.
In response, the city launched restoration work in 2010, filling gaps in the stonework with concrete and laying protective sheets along the riverbed to prevent further leakage, investing about 11 billion yen in a project that has now restored a steady flow of water.
The head of a local group long involved in cleaning and maintaining the river said stagnant water had caused algae to rot and produce foul odors, adding that his ideal is to turn the Takase River into a second “Philosopher’s Path.”
Kyoto Mayor Matsui Koji also said he has already noticed environmental changes following the restoration, pointing out that white herons have returned and fish are present despite relatively low water levels, describing the project as a form of Kyoto-style urban development that preserves tradition while updating it for the present.
Source: MBS
