I want to blame the janky writing on me using translation, but most of it is just me. There's more to research, but I am interested in just getting this started. Here is episode 1.
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I now live near the Yodogawa in Osaka. Where I am, just north of Umeda, the Yodogawa is wide and usually flows pretty slow. The thing I noticed first was how straight the Yodogawa is in my area of the river. It kind of bends around the JR Kyoto Line bridge, but is pretty straight from there to Osaka Bay.
Another thing I noticed was how the shore seemed a little odd. In places around the Juso bridge, the shore is a concrete wall. Understandable since that used to be a shipping dock area. But I had expected to see the river and the shore meets in a way that I had been used to seeing in Minnesota where the shore gently slopes into the river.
I chalked it up to a simple case of human development. All along the north side of the river, there is a large embankment I had assumed was just built to protect the houses from flooding. Several times I have seen storm surges push water a third of the way up the embankment. I realized the embankment was reasonable for the government to erect. But why did they do it?
The Yodogawa Basin in the Edo Era
It turns out, the Yodogawa River of today is different from the way it looked in the Edo Era. There used to be three larger rivers that flowed in the area where the current Yodogawa flows. They were combined into one great river to ease flooding. The thinking was that a single wide river would prevent flooding in the area. An added benefit was that ships would be able to move into the river more easily.
The New River
The old Yodogawa River flowed through the city. But the construction restricted the water that flowed through the city. The Nakatsu River was widened and straightened and became the Yodogawa that we see today. The Kanzaki River is still here a little farther to the north.
My Yodogawa
The north side of the river in my area around Nakajima is more beautiful than the city side in my opinion. The north side has a view of downtown and a river park. But it holds a dark secret. I heard because downtown is the economic center, it would be disastrous should a flood happen. So on the north side, there are flood gates that can be opened if they need to let water out of the river. Is that also the reason for the park on the north side. Does that also double as a flood plain? Next time you look at the Yodogawa River near Osaka, notice the shores and how unnatural they look.
The Nakatsu River
I did some research to see if I could find the old Nakatsu River because I was afraid I am living on its former riverbed. I came across a site that showed me the Hanakawa Shrine near Tsukumoto was the "nose" of the river. (I am still trying to figure this one out, but I think it's a small peninsula.) Then I did some more reading and found that the Sumiyoshi Shrine near that one actually butted up against the river.
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| The roads in this area make unusual and seemingly unnecessary turns. |
http://blog.livedoor.jp/osakawalker/archives/51847937.html
I'll have to find a better map of the whole river.
Fun fact
There is a river that flows out of the area of Osaka near Baika and Torishima called the Shorenji River. On a map it looks like it is coming out of nowhere. I'll have to do some more investigating, but I think this is the former mouth of the Nakatsu River.
Sources
https://www.kkr.mlit.go.jp/yodogawa/know/history/now_and_then/kouji.html
http://blog.livedoor.jp/osakawalker/archives/51847937.html
https://osaka-hk.org/posts/senjin138
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