Saitama Minuma Irrigation Canal, Kamikawara Village Area, Wooden Navigable Canal and Water Transport Scenery

During the Kyōhō years (1716-1736) in the middle of the Edo Period (1603-1868), irrigation canals were built in areas in present-day Saitama Prefecture to create new rice paddies. This picture depicts the area where the Minuma Irrigation Canal intersected with the Ayasegawa River at Kamikawarabuki Village (present-day Kawarabuki area in Ageo City, Saitama Prefecture). It was necessary to construct a navigable aqueduct at this intersection point to avoid hindering water transport, so a wooden navigable aqueduct was constructed over the river. When the Minuma Tsūsen-bori, a lock (device for raising and lowering water transport between stretches of water at different levels), was opened in 1731, ferry ports were constructed at eastern and western junctions of the Minuma Irrigation Canal, and places near this intersection became landing areas for water transport. As the words "Saitama Prefecture" can be seen on a pillar in the picture, it is believed this work was created after November 1871, when the term "prefecture" officially came into use.