is a river in

Kuji is a Japanese city in Iwate Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 34,418 in 15,675 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kuji is in far northeastern Iwate Prefect ...

, Iwate of

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 ...

. It rises at Mount Myojindake located in

Kitakami Mountains is a mountain range in northeastern Honshu, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan.Kitakami Mou ...

, and flows into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

at Kuji City. It is in length, and is designated as a Class B river. The urban area of Kuji City is situated on the

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the sma ...

of the river. is located along the upper reach of the river. It has a water spring named Furosen (不老泉, literally "ageless spring"), which is known for one of the valuable water springs in Iwate. Water from the spring was initially utilized for placer gold mining in

Meiji Era 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 b ...

. Later in the Taisho Era it was named after a legend, in which one had become immortal after drinking the water. The valley is a part of

Kuji-Hiraniwa Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1961, the park spans the municipalities of Kuji and Kuzumaki. See also * National Parks of Japan National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationalit ...

. Kuji Region used to contain characteristic Tatara furnaces, in which a

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

was utilized to supply the air to the furnace, while in many other regions of the country man-power was utilized. Today some parts of the furnaces remain along a tributary river of Kuji River. The tributaries consist of Natsui River (夏井川), Nagauchi River (長内川), Sawa River (沢川), Tazawa River (田沢川), Tagonai River (田子内川), Heromachi River (戸呂町川), Hinosawa River (日野沢川), Enbetsu River (遠別川) and Futamata River (二又川). Taki Dam (滝ダム) is a concrete

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...

situated on Nagauchi River, which is one of the tributaries. It has the total capacity of and the height of . Construction of the dam started in 1969 and was completed in 1982.

References

See also