千波湖水利改修記念碑

It is said that Lake Chiba in the Edo period was about four times as large as it is now, and Sakuragawa directly flowed in, but in the Meiji and Taisho eras, about two-thirds were reclaimed and became paddy fields, reducing to the current size. It seems that it was done. This stone monument was probably built to commemorate the reclamation project at that time. The reclaimed paddy fields are now urban areas such as the south exit of Mito Station and the city hall. The surroundings are grassy and the characters are difficult to read, but the large stone monument on the left is November 1934 (prewar). The small stone monument on the right has the date of October 1958 (postwar). It is tilted a little and it is no wonder that it collapses due to an earthquake, so it may be better not to get too close. Is the title of the big stone monument "Mansei Toshizawa"? The text is "Senba Lake Water Conservation Monument Duke Tokugawa Kunijun Title" After being written "Japan has become a masterpiece of nation with ancient agriculture. Agriculture makes cultivated land a book, and cultivated land makes water a life ... " It seems that the significance and background of reclamation and the difficulty of construction are mainly described. By the way, Mr. Kuniyuki Tokugawa is the 13th head of the Mito Tokugawa family (* The Mito clan ended in the 11th generation) and completed (finished) the history of Dai Nihonshi. The title of the small stone monument is simply written as "memorial" The writing style is close to the present, so it is easy to read. "Sakuragawa originates from Ikenobe, Kasama City, at the foot of Mt. Asabo, far from the starting point ..." It seems that the transition of Sakuragawa, which became longer due to the reclamation of Lake Senba, and the background of the establishment of the Ryutei floodgate are written. The scenery of Sakuragawa is well maintained, and as the name suggests, it is a famous spot for cherry blossoms in Mito in spring. By the way, if you go a little further toward Mito Station, you will find a monument of "Yanagitsutsumi" in Sakumachi Park. During the Edo period, there was a narrow artificial new road that passed through the vast Senba Lake. It was set up to improve the convenience of transportation between the upper and lower towns, which was blocked by Lake Senba, but Mitsukuni planted willow trees along the road to avoid the heat of passers-by and is called "Yanagi Embankment". It seems that it has become. The Yanagi embankment passed from the vicinity of Mito Bridge through the current Mito station to the foot of Toshogu, forming a unique landscape that can be counted as one of the eight views of Lake Senba, but it disappeared with the reclamation of Lake Senba Shimonuma. Now, Yanagi Tsutsumi Bridge only remains as a place name. You can see the state of the old willow bank on the 2nd floor of the Municipal Museum and the Prefectural History Museum with models and old maps of the castle town. I thought that the area around the bank where the monument stands was once a willow bank, so I added it.