Spring 1986 RAIN Page 13 Yet, Watermills Are Alive: From Asakura toYame Photo by Hiroaki Kono It is indicative ofjust howfast Japan has movedfrom an agricultural to an industrial society by thefact that groups have formed to preserve technology that is rapidly becoming extinct. This briefarticle about one group'sformation to save watermills provides valuable background about technology applications in Japan. It is condensedfrom an article in Human: The Journal of Community Studies, published by Japan Plus Twenty, do Ohdake Foundation, Central Building Ninth Floor, 1-1-5, Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104, Japan. Takeshi Murota is an associate professor of economics at Hitotsubashi University, and author o/Enerugii to Entoropii no Keizaigaku (The Economics of Energy and Entropy). —SJ by Takeshi Murota Japan is endowed with rich precipitation; some 2000 mm per year on the average. At the same time, more than half of its total area is covered by mountains, and most of those mountainous areas are covered by forests. This combination of climatological and topographic conditions has created countless small streams of rapid water flows all over Japan. As a result, Japan has an enormous possibility of small scale water power utilization by means of such techniques as wooden waterwheels, small iron turbines, and others. It has, indeed, a rich history of small-scale water power utilization. It is true that the number of watermills in Japan has declined in the past few decades. But even under the heavy pressure of contemporary oil civilization, more than 500 watermills are still alive. The first use of watermills in this country dates back to 670. But its most popular period was in the Edo era (1603-1867). In this era, waterwheels of various sizes were constructed for such purposes as paddy field irrigation, high-grade pounding of rice for sake production, pressing several kinds of plant seeds for vegetable oil production, and crushing rocks for mining and milling purposes. Others were developed for agricultural purposes and for handcraft manufacturer. Following the Meiji Restoration (1868), which opened the country to the world, many industrial machines were introduced to Japan from European countries. Most of these imported machines had been designed to be powered by coal, using steam engines. However, Japan did not then have a tradition of large-scale coal mining. In the presence of rich water flows in many areas as a free power source, coal was often too expensive to become an economical fuel. This encouraged the construction of waterwheels, mostly wooden and sometimes iron, as the devices to move industrial machines for spinning silk, weaving cotton, processing green tea, cutting wood, and many other purposes, in addition to the traditional uses since the Edo era. In Europe, the coal burned in steam engines had almost completely replaced the role of water power. In contrast, in Japan water power played an important part, along with coal, in industrialization. The historical peak of waterwheel utilization is documented to have been around 1910. Statistics show that more than 80,000 waterwheels were active during this time. And this probably does not include the many small ones called Sozu (or BVattan or Battaii) used for polishing rice or The Other Japan
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