is an artificial reservoir located in the city of

Ōsakasayama 260px, Sayama Pond is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 158,465 in 26128 households and a population density of 4900 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ōsakasayama is locate ...

Osaka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...

in the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolita ...

of Japan. Constructed around the 6th century, it claims to be the oldest in Japan, based on chronological survey of potteries near the lake confirmed that the pond was completed in 7th century. The pond was designated a National Historic Site in 1946, and is listed as World Heritage Irrigation Structure by ''International Commission of Irrigation and Drainage''.

Overview

The origins of the Sayama Pond are not clear; it was completed some time between the fourth and seventh centuries, during the

Kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...

. It appears in both the "

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

" and " Nihon Shoki", which states that it was made during the reign of

Emperor Sujin , also known as in the ''Kojiki'', and or in the '' Nihon Shoki'' was the tenth Emperor of Japan. While Sujin is the first emperor whose existence historians widely accept, he is still referred to as a "legendary emperor" due to a lack of info ...

by damming the north-flowing Nishiyoke and Mitsuya rivers. It is believed to have been repaired by

Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-dera, ...

in 731, and again in 762 after a collapse of the embankment. Further repairs were recorded in 1202 and in 1608. 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 ...

, the pond was maintained by the Ikejiri family on a hereditary basis, and managed by

Sayama Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kawachi Province in what is now the southeastern portion of modern-day Osaka Prefecture. It was centered around the Sayama ''jin'ya'' which was located in what i ...

(whose ''

jin'ya A was a type of administrative headquarters in the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period of Japanese history. ''Jin'ya'' served as the seat of the administration for a small domain, a province, or additional parcels of land. ''Jin'ya'' hou ...

'' was on the eastern side of the pond), although the pond itself was direct property of 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 ...

. Until the re-routing of the

Yamato River The is a river which flows through Nara Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is designated Class A by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The river flows via towns: *Nara Prefecture **Yamatokōriyama *Osa ...

cut off much of its water supply and drainage channels in 1704, the pond provided irrigation water for 80 villages. From 1898, the pond came undertone control of the Sayama Pond Ordinary Water Conservancy Association and water supply method and regulations were modernized. A project to add a flood control function to the pond was completed in 1998, at which time the area around the pond was made into a public park. Over 50 species of wild birds have been spotted in the pond area. In addition, the Osaka Prefectural Sayama Pond Museum, opened in 2001 on the north side of the pond for the purpose of preserving and opening the former Sayama Pond. It contains displays of a portion of original embankment cut out during the renovation work and allows visitors to see the cross section.

Dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...

of timbers used in the base of the embankment yielded a date of 616 AD, or during the reign of

Empress Suiko (554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd monarch of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 推古天皇 (33)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Suiko reigned from 593 until her death in 628. In the history of Japan ...

, and the construction method similar to contemporary structures which have been found in China. Analysis of sediments found large quantities of marine

diatoms A diatom (New Latin, Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group com ...

, which confirm that

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

from large earthquakes in the past, such as the

684 Hakuhō earthquake The 684 Hakuho earthquake took place in Japan in 684, and is described in the history book '' Nihon Shoki'' from the 8th century. The earthquake took place on 29 November, 684, in 13th year of the reign of Emperor Tenmu (Tenmu period). It caused the ...

and the

1605 Keichō earthquake The 1605 Keichō earthquake () occurred at about 20:00 local time on 3 February. It had an estimated magnitude of 7.9 on the surface wave magnitude scale and triggered a devastating tsunami that resulted in thousands of deaths in the Nankai and ...

reached the pond. Also found during the

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

was the remnants of signboard for the 1202 renovation of the pond by the monk Chōgen. It was designated as an Important Cultural Property in 2014.

Gallery

Sayamaike (National Historic Site).JPG, Sayama Pond Sayamaike02.JPG, Sayama Pond Sayamaikehakubutukan.JPG, Osaka Prefectural Sayamaike Museum

References

External links

Osaka Prefectural Government information home page

Osaka official tourist information

Prefectural Sayamaike Museum
{{in lang, ja History of Osaka Prefecture Landforms of Osaka Prefecture Ōsakasayama Historic Sites of Japan Kawachi Province

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links