The is a river in
Yamagata Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Yamagata Prefecture has a population of 1,079,950 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km² (3,600 sq mi). Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the north, ...
,
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 ...
.
Description and history
It is 224 km long and has a
watershed of 7,040 km
2. It is regarded as one of the three most rapid rivers of Japan (along with the
Fuji River and the
Kuma River).
The river rises from southern Yamagata Prefecture and flows to the north, and turns west at
Shinjō and flows into the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
at
Sakata. Water transportation once flourished on the river and carried local products such as
safflower
Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along ...
s and
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
to the
Kansai
The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...
region.
Cultural references
The Mogami River appears as an ''
utamakura
is a rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry.
Definition
is a category of poetic words, often involving place names, that allow for greater allusions and intertextuality across Japanese poems.
enables poets to express ideas and themes concisel ...
'' in Japanese poetry, with the influential 17th-century poet
Matsuo Bashō
born then was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest ma ...
composing several
hokku
is the opening stanza of a Japanese orthodox collaborative linked poem, '' renga'', or of its later derivative, '' renku'' (''haikai no renga''). From the time of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), the ''hokku'' began to appear as an independent poem, ...
regarding the river during his travels alongside it.
Some were revised as
haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
in the
memoir of his journeys, including this well-known poem:
:
::''samidare o atsumete hayashi Mogami-gawa''
:gathering the rains
:of the wet season — swift
:the Mogami River
:
(''trans. Shirane'')
The character Yūko Aioi in ''
Nichijou
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keiichi Arawi. The manga began serialization in the December 2006 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's manga magazine '' Shōnen Ace'', and was also serialized in ''Comptiq'' between the March 2007 ...
'' has inner monologues in haiku form, all ending with the name of the river as a complete
non sequitur (as she cannot think of a full 5-7-5 haiku).
''Mogami-gawa'' is also the name of the anthem of Yamagata Prefecture written by Emperor
Hirohito
Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
. The
Japanese Navy
, abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...
had two different
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
s named ''
Mogami''.
Images
Image:Aterazawa Mogami Bridge 2006.jpg,
Image:Mogami river in Sagae 2006.jpg,
Image:Sirataka Mogami River 2009.jpg,
Image:Aterazawa Mogamikei 2008.jpg,
Image:Asahimachi Mogami River 2006.jpg,
Image:Aterazawa Mogami River Evening 2006.jpg,
References
External links
(mouth)
{{Authority control
Rivers of Yamagata Prefecture
Rivers of Japan