is a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

Ten'ei was a after ''Tennin'' and before '' Eikyū.'' This period spanned the years from July 1110 through July 1113. The reigning emperor was . Change of Era * January 22, 1110 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. ...

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Hatori Dam is managed directly by the

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries may refer to: * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Cambodia) * Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) * Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Niue) * Depar ...

, and is intended to provide irrigation for the Shirakawa area of the Abukuma River Basin. The dam is an

earth dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface an ...

with a height of 37.1 meters. The reservoir created by the dam is called Lake Hatori, and has been developed as a resort area.

History

The Abukuma River that flows through the Nakadori region of central Fukushima prefecture was traditionally a strong granary area, due to lack of water in areas not immediately adjacent to the Abukuma River, and due to the fact that the average flow rate of the Abukuma River itself is also small (52.07 tons per second). During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, even a light drought was enough to result in crop failure. For this reason, efforts were made to take water from the

Agano River The is a river in the Hokuriku region of Honshu, Japan. It is also called the Aga River or the Ōkawa River in Fukushima. The source of the river is Mount Arakai on the border of Fukushima and Tochigi. It flows to the north and meets the Ni ...

(called the "Aga River" in Fukushima) which has an abundant flow rate of about eight times (395.86 tons per second) that of the average flow rate of the Abukuma River. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the Azumi Canal was completed in 1882 bring water to the area from

Lake Inawashiro is the fourth-largest lake in Japan, located in central Fukushima Prefecture, south of Mount Bandai. It is also known as the . The lake is located within the borders of Bandai-Asahi National Park. It is a surface area of , circumference of , dept ...

, and momentum began to promote use of the Agano River to open up new agricultural land. A government project started in 1941, which eventually resulted in the Hatori Dam.The project was suspended by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but was revived in 1950, and the dam was completed in 1956. Water stored at the dam crosses the watershed of the

Ōu Mountains The are a mountain range in the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan. The range is the longest range in Japan and stretches south from the Natsudomari Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture to the Nasu volcanoes at the northern boundary of the Kantō re ...

via tunnel and is led to the Abukuma River. At the time, it was one of the largest irrigation dams in Japan. The irrigation network continued to be expanded through 1964.

References

Dams in Fukushima Prefecture Dams completed in 1956 Earth-filled dams Ten-ei, Fukushima {{Tōhoku-dam-stub