山形五堰と人の営み,The Yamagata Goseki (Five Weirs) and the Livelihood of its People

The Yamagata Goseki (Five Weirs) and the Livelihood of its People

The Yamagata Goseki (Five Weirs) supplied water for daily life in the castle town and also provided irrigation water for farmland downstream. It is believed that the allocation of water intake followed customs established during the Edo period, although the exact method of distribution remains unknown. During periods of drought, when the flow of the Mamigasaki River decreased, conflicts known as “water disputes” sometimes occurred, in which people blocked channels to divert water from other users. To prevent such water theft, guards were reportedly stationed along the river at night.
From the Meiji period through the Showa period, the goseki were also used as industrial water sources. Waterwheels powered flour mills and rice-polishing machines. During Japan’s period of rapid economic growth around the 1970s, water quality deteriorated severely due to industrial wastewater. However, beginning in the early Heisei period (1990s), improvements in sewer systems, government-led environmental measures, and community cleanup activities gradually restored the water quality. As a result, plum moss—an aquatic plant that grows only in clean water—returned to the goseki.

Today, the Yamagata Goseki continue to support local life by providing pleasant waterways, preserving biodiversity, and serving as valuable tourism resources.