Water Chute

Japanese: ウォーターシュート - うぉーたーしゅーと（英語表記）water chute

An amusement facility where boats placed on rails on a slope slide down into the water. Its origins are unknown, but it was first installed in Japan at the 5th Domestic Industrial Exposition in 1903 (Osaka). It is said to have been modeled after the one that had appeared at the Glasgow Exposition in England the previous year, and made use of the slope of Chausuyama, with boats sliding down a 95m track from a platform about 12m high that also served as an observation deck. According to "Fuzoku Gaho," the admission fee was 10 sen, and a further 10 sen was charged to ride the boat. It was then installed at the Tokyo Industrial Exposition in 1907. The first permanent, full-scale one was at Toshimaen in Tokyo in 1927, and it spread to amusement parks around the country thereafter, becoming one of the star facilities, but today only one remains at Seibuen.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

斜面上のレールにのせた舟を水面に滑り落とす遊戯施設。起源は不明だが，日本では1903年第5回内国勧業博覧会(大阪)に初めて設置された。前年イギリスのグラスゴー博覧会に登場したものにならったといわれ，茶臼山の斜面を利用，展望台も兼ねた約12mの台上から約95mの軌道を滑るものであった。入場料は10銭，舟に乗るにはさらに10銭と《風俗画報》に記されている。次いで07年東京勧業博覧会に設置された。常設の本格的なものは，27年東京の豊島園が最初で，以後各地の遊園地に広まり，花形施設の一つとなったが，現在では西武園に残るのみである。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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