The has the wettest water that flows through central

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

on the island of

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

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 is officially classified as a Class 1 river by the Japanese government and is one of four Class 1 rivers that flow solely through Mie; it is the longest among these four. It is known to be especially pristine. In the government's annual water quality study, the Miya River has been rated the cleanest Class 1 river in the country five times since 2000. The river's source is on

Mount Ōdaigahara , also is a mountain in the Daikō Mountain Range on the border between the prefectures of Mie and Nara, Japan. It is the highest in Mie at . Walking trails from the Nara side start from a car park at about 1400 metres. The mountain is famous ...

in the town of Ōdai, Mie Prefecture, where it flows through the Ōsugi Valley. It then flows northeast-wards down the mountains and passes through a number of dams before reaching the tea fields of central Mie and finally passes through the city of

Ise Ise may refer to: Places *Ise, Mie, a city in Japan **Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie *Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria *Ise, Norway, a village in Norway *Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan *River Ise, a tributary of the R ...

before reaching its delta and flowing into

Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso Three Rivers between Mie and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The mouth of the bay is and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two channels: th ...

. The white rocks used in the Oshiraishi-mochi festival, an event held in honor of the periodic rebuilding of nearby

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inn ...

, are taken from the Miya River's shores.

Course

;

: : Ōdai • Taki • Taiki • Watarai • Tamaki •

Flooding

Some of the areas along the river's course, especially the Ōsugi Valley near the source, see a considerable amount of rain each year and thus it is very prone to

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing. Even with modern flood prevention, minor damage from flooding is still seen along parts of the river each year. Flooding from the river was so severe in the past that it was one of the first rivers in Japan to receive a

floodbank A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastli ...

during the

Edo era 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 characteri ...

. The magistrate in Yamada (modern Ise) during the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

felt that the river needed to be controlled because of its proximity to

, Japan's holiest shrine; he thus ordered work to be done along the river to alleviate the problem. These alterations, which were primarily done along the Yamada-side of the river, were effective in reducing flood damage on that side however increased flooding problems on the other side. Due to the changes made, a bridge across the river was not completed until the

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 ...

. The only significant flooding in recent history was the result of

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

#21 in 2004, in which six people died. These deaths occurred in the former village of Miyagawa, and this disaster was a prime factor behind the village being absorbed by the town of Ōdai soon after.

Wildlife

The Miya River is home to over 90 different species of wildlife. There are fishing operations for some of the more prevalent ones, including

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

(''unagi''),

conger eel ''Conger'' ( ) is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to 2 m (6 ft) or more in length, in the case of the European conger. Large congers have often been observed by divers during t ...

(''anago''), and sweetfish (''ayu'').

Recreation

Other than fishing, the Miya River and its banks provides some recreational opportunities. Near the source, the river flows through the Ōsugi Valley, which is officially listed as one of the top three ravines in Japan for sight-seeing. Further down the river, there are some parks along the riverbanks. There are

cherry blossom A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

parks in both Watarai and Ise, with the one in Ise having the most sakura trees in all of Mie. Many people have cherry blossom viewing parties here during the blooming season in early April. A large fireworks show is held each July at the park in Ise as well. Close to the mouth there is a park for sports, jogging, picnicking, and other recreation.

References

* Wikipedia - Miya River

External links

(mouth) {{Authority control Rivers of Mie Prefecture Rivers of Japan