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Shingen embankment visible in Kai City, Yamanashi Prefecture.

Completely surrounded by ocean, people in Japan have lived intimately connected with water since ancient times. What has water meant to Japanese people? To answer this question, we interviewed with folklorist SEKIZAWA Mayumi about different meanings water has had in relation to everything from agriculture and urban development to religious beliefs.

What role has water played in the history of Japan?

Japan is situated in a temperate monsoon climate, blessed with abundant water resources. Old historical records like the Kojiki (“Records of Ancient Matters”) and Nihon Shoki (“The Chronicles of Japan”)¹ refer to Japan as Toyoashihara-no-Mizuho-no-Kuni, which means “the land where the reeds grow thick, and rice stalks grow lush and abundant.” On the other hand, Japan’s history is also one of frequent flooding caused by seasonal changes, such as the rainy seasons, typhoons, and long autumn rains.

With a history such as this, the role of water can be divided into two main categories: water for daily life, which is essential to cooking, washing clothes, washing the face, and bathing; and water for production, which is used for agriculture and industry, primarily to cultivate rice in paddy fields. Water for production is quite important in terms of the relationship Japanese people have had with water. Japanese culture itself has developed hand in hand with the cultivation of rice.

Could you explain in more detail how rice culture developed in Japan?

Paddy rice cultivation began in northern Kyushu in the mid-10th century BCE, when Japan was still in what is considered the Jomon period (1400 to 300 century BCE). Over some 650 years, the practice moved eastward until it reached eastern Japan. Certain areas in northern and northeastern Japan began to cultivate rice and subsequently abandoned the practice, indicating that there are regional differences in how rice cultivation spread across the country.

Why did it take 650 years to reach eastern Japan? This is thought to have something to do with how communities formed. Paddy rice cultivation requires civil engineering techniques like the digging and maintenance of irrigation canals, as well as sustained communal work at specific times of year to plant the rice. Having a leader to coordinate this work would be important.

We imagine that the construction of the kofun burial mounds built in Japan around this time required techniques and social structure similar to those needed to cultivate paddy rice. The Makimuku site, located in the southeastern part of the Nara Basin, is thought to have appeared early in the 3rd century, and large waterways, in addition to the early kofun, have also been detected at sites like the Makimuku Ishizuka tomb. These projects served as an important cornerstone for building social infrastructure from the Yayoi period (mid-3rd century BCE to mid-3rd century AD) to the Kofun period (mid-3rd century to mid-7th century).

What impact did water have on town planning and religious practice?

The Nihon Shoki and other ancient documents include legends of imperial construction of riverbanks, dykes, and reservoirs. Japan is quite mountainous and blessed with many rivers, but that also means that controlling floods has been a major concern since ancient times as rivers flow steeply in many areas and often burst their banks.

Maintaining canals and building flood control structures require the mobilization and cooperation of large numbers of people, so the construction of water infrastructure long ago was led by the emperor and local feudal lords who governed the area. In addition, there are also records of religious figures like Gyoki² and Kukai³ being involved in these projects. This may have been in part a way to spread an understanding of political and Buddhist power through water-related construction and management.

On the other hand, belief in water as sacred is thought to have existed since the Jomon period, when people depended on the blessings of nature to survive. However, rice farmers who came to settle in the lowlands lived side by side with floods and other disasters, and it is likely that this religious devotion to water was spurred by both gratitude and fear. Susano’o-no-Mikoto⁴ as depicted in mythology represents rain and rivers. The fact that so many shrines across Japan are dedicated to Susano’o is a clear indication that Japanese people have both appreciated the bounty that water bestows and feared the threat it poses.

Itsukushima Shrine, on Itsukushima Island, part of Hatsukaichi City in Hiroshima Prefecture, was built on reclaimed land of bedrock where the tide rises and falls. There are three small ponds called Kagami-no-ike (mirror ponds) on the shrine grounds, which appear only at low tide. It is said that pure freshwater overflowing up from the sea at the center of these ponds, making round puddles. Humans have long believed in sacred water sources, and this is particularly true of island peoples, as they live surrounded by the sea. It is interesting to note that the custom of worshipping ancient wells is still practiced in parts of Japan like Okinawa.

With feudal authority established in Japan in the 16th century, the ability to control water became a symbol of political power and a vital role that rulers played. The renowned waterworks constructed by Takeda Shingen,⁶ a powerful warlord who ruled what is now Yamanashi Prefecture, took 20 years to complete. This structure brought a steady supply of water to the often-flooded Kofu Basin, expanding the paddy fields there. The riverbanks that Shingen had built up, dubbed the Shingen embankment, were so solid that they are still in use some 450 years later.

In the 17th century, Tokugawa Ieyasu,⁷ founder of the Edo shogunate, diverted the Tonegawa river, which had flowed into Edo Bay (present day Tokyo Bay), into the Watarase River to prevent flooding in the city of Edo. The flood control project, known as the Tonegawa Eastward Transfer Project, dramatically redirected the river’s flow so that it flowed into Kashima-nada in Ibaraki Prefecture. Many other large-scale civil engineering projects were undertaken to build Edo Castle and develop the surrounding town. These projects included opening drinking water supplies, extending the manmade Dosanbori waterway, opening the Nihonbashi river, and extending the Kanda River to control flooding on the Hirakawa River and create the outer moat of the northern side of Edo Castle.

Water has had a major impact throughout Japan’s history as a natural resource that is not only critical for life, but is related closely to politics, economy, and culture, as well.

What are other unique aspects of Japanese water culture?

Japanese gardens, for example, are designed to represent familiar natural landscapes in limited spaces. One of these gardening styles is called karesansui (dry landscape gardening). White sand covers the garden in a wave pattern, called samon, to represent the flow of water. This technique of making the visitor feel the presence of water, in a space where there is no water, is, I think, an artistic expression unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Another example is Japanese phrases like mizu ni nagasu (“let the past events be past”; lit. “let it flow in the water”) and ashi wo arau (“wash one’s hands of it”; lit. “wash the feet”) which incorporate the word for water. In fact, these come from rituals that used water to symbolize a change in status. Back when weddings were held in the home, part of the wedding ritual in Nara Prefecture involved the bride simulating the act of washing her feet in a wooden tub before entering the house she had married into. On Izu Oshima (an island located north of Izu Islands in Tokyo), the ritual of the bride fetching water from her in-laws’ well and presenting it to her mother-in-law remained in practice for quite a while. These rites used water to represent a transition in status, whereby the bride becomes a member of a new family.

Another uniquely Japanese expression is the phrase yumizu no gotoku (“to go through like water”; lit. “like hot water”). This is a phrase that unconsciously expresses an abundance of water. As Japan, surrounded on all sides by the sea, shares no border with another country, the country has never experienced an international conflict over water resources. Tensions over water have remained relatively low. As water pipes age, however, and managing water infrastructure becomes more difficult, the water-related environment in Japan is changing day by day. We should rethink our tendency to take water for granted and realize how much we should appreciate the Japanese culture that has been fostered by safe, clean water.

• 1. Kojiki (“Records of Ancient Matters”) and Nihon Shoki (“The Chronicles of Japan”) are historical records compiled in 712 and 720, respectively.
• 2. Buddhist monk born in 668 and died in 749. Gyoki worked with the local community on the construction of bridges, reservoirs, and other public works as he spread the teachings of Buddhism.
• 3. Buddhist monk born in 774 and died in 835. Kukai studied esoteric Buddhism in China during the Tang dynasty, founding the Shingon sect of Buddhism on his return to Japan. He excelled in calligraphy and poetry and is known as Kobo Daishi.
• 4. A major deity in Japanese mythology. Regarded as the ancestral deity of myths set in the Izumo region (present day Shimane Prefecture).
• 5. One of the most well-known scenic sights in Japan. It was chosen as one of the Three Great Views of Japan when these titles became popular in the late modern period. The three great views are Miyajima (Itsukushima) in Aki (present day Hiroshima Prefecture), Amanohashidate in Tango (Kyoto Prefecture) and Matsushima in Rikuzen (Miyagi Prefecture).
• 6. Military commander born in 1521 and died in 1573. Victorious in many battles, he ruled the area that is present day Yamanashi Prefecture. A renowned general with both a literary and military background, he is known for his many outstanding policies, including the formation of the castle town and the development of transport routes.
• 7. First shogun of the Edo shogunate born in 1543 and died in 1616. He established the shogunate in Edo (present day Tokyo), taking the authority to command and control all samurai families in Japan. He laid the foundation for the Tokugawa regime, which would last for the next 265 years.

* There are various theories about the dates of historical periods and individual births and deaths mentioned in this article.

By MOROHASHI Kumiko
Photo: Nihon Minzoku Daijiten Jo (“Japanese Folklore Dictionary Vol. 1,” 1999, Yoshikawa Kobunkan); Courtesy of Hiroshima Prefecture; PIXTA

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