Miomotegawa River

This river flows from the eastern part of Murakami City in northern Niigata Prefecture to the southwest, almost crossing the city. It originates at Nishiasahi-dake (1,814 meters) in Bandai-Asahi National Park on the border with Yamagata Prefecture, and in the upper reaches it splits into two branches, Saruta and Suezawa, and joins the Takane and Monzen rivers at the bottom of the basin before flowing into the Sea of ​​Japan at Senami in Murakami City. It is 49.1 kilometers long. It has been called Sakegawa since ancient times, and salmon fishing is a thriving industry. In the early modern period, the Murakami Domain made an effort to cultivate a salmon seed river, and the tax revenue from salmon fishing became the domain's main source of revenue and was used to fund the education of its samurai. Even today, the Tanekawa method of catching salmon en masse using bamboo cages and the hatchery remain, and salting river salmon has become a specialty of Murakami City. After World War II, the Mimen Dam was built on the Iwakuzure upstream rockslide, and there are two prefectural power stations, Mimen and Saruta. The Oku-Mimen settlement at the very top of the river was an isolated mountain village known for the legend of the Heike clan's refugees, but now the entire village has descended the mountain, and with the development of the dam transportation, it has become a tourist destination that teaches the custom of straddling the river.

[Hisao Yamazaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

新潟県北部、村上市の東部から南西へ、市域をほぼ横切って流れる川。源を山形県境の磐梯(ばんだい)朝日国立公園の西朝日岳（1814メートル）に発し、上流は猿田(さるた)・末沢(すえざわ)の二支流に分かれ、盆地底で高根(たかね)・門前(もんぜん)川を合流して、村上市の瀬波(せなみ)で日本海に注ぐ。延長49.1キロメートル。古くから鮭川(さけがわ)の名でよばれ、サケ漁が盛ん。近世、村上藩はサケの種川(たねがわ)育成に努め、サケ漁の運上金は藩の主要財源をなし、藩士の教育資金に使われた。現在も、竹簀(たけす)によりサケを一括採捕する種川方式や、孵化(ふか)場が残され、川サケの塩引きは村上市の名物になっている。第二次世界大戦後は、上流の岩崩(いわくずれ)に三面ダムが築かれ、県営三面、猿田の二発電所がある。最上流の奥三面集落は平家の落人(おちゅうど)伝説で知られた隔絶山村であったがいまは全村下山、ダム交通の開発で、またぎ習俗を伝える観光地に変わった。

［山崎久雄］

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