japanese
Background
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Hata-seki(Niyodo river)
The photo shows one of the examples. Hata-seki (seki means weir) in Niyodo river of Kochi prefecture was constructed more than 350 years ago. Even though the original body of stone and wood was transformed to concrete one, the shape diagonally across the river succeeds the wisdom of the pioneer who tried to make the weir body parry the flood. Because of the small level difference and the gentle slope of the body, people can easily access to the weir and enjoy water-familiar activities.
Weirs have been succeeded for a long time in the regions. They project the histories of interaction between the rivers and people. Today, they are doomed to be replaced to movable dams or removed by requests of function improvement. One of such cases has been suspended after the opposite opinion to the plan was indicated by a referendum. It is necessary for us to make clear that weirs are one of the elements composing cultural landscape deeply related with both riparian environment and agriculture before loosing them totally.
