Page 14 RAIN Spring 1986 producing small amounts of electricity in remote villages. After the Second World War, coal mining became a big business. Large scale hydraulic power stations started to be built in the 1950s. Thus, the electrification moved forward in the whole country. The easy access to the electric lines caused gradual decline of small-scale water power utilization by waterwheels and tiny turbines. In other words, the centralization of power supply proceeded in this period. Then, the oil civilization came along. The consumption of imported oil exceeded that of domestic coal around 1960. Multiple functions of oil for power source, for direct heat source, for fuel to generate electricity, and for chemical feedstock made this cheaply imported fuel dominate not only industry but also agriculture. Under this pressure of the oil-based civilization, the practice of the already declining watermill utilization appeared to have ceased in Japan. Fortunately not all the watermills have disappeared. Recent researchers have found over 500 active watermills. Researching the watermlls was sparked by Tokuo Katsuki, a specialist in the traditional, popular house (minka in Japanese). He lives in Kurume City in Kukuoka prefecture on Kyushu Island. Photo by Hiroaki Kono Near Kurume city there is a town called Asakura. Here, Katsuki studied the Hishino Sanren Suisha (triple-wheel watermill). This paddy irrigation watermill consisted of three consecutive, downshot wheels located along Horikawa river, which is an irrigation creek whose water is taken from Chikugo River. This watermill has 132 wooden buckets in total and irrigates paddy fields of some 13 hectares (1 hectare = 2.7 acres). In addition downstream to the triple-wheel watermill there are two double-wheel watermills. The three of these serve for the irrigation of 35 hectares in total. Katsuki investigated the origin of these unique watermills. Some people suggested they could be preserved in museums, but Katsukifelt that a watermill conserved in a still state is almost a dead one. especially the one Hishino triple-wheel watermill. He found an old manuscript which described how two villages, Hishino and Furuke set up the moyai (a kind of cooperative) in 1788 to remodel the then double-wheel watermill into a triple one. He also found an old picture scroll, which shows a scene of its active use along Horikawa, as it is seen today. In the early 1970s the national renovation project of the Chikugo River area included the plan to narrow the width of Horikawa. This meant that the watermills had to be removed, and be replaced by electric motors. Katsuki and other concerned people strongly opposed this plan and they proposed that the government protect the watermills. Some people suggested they could be saved in museums, but Katsuki felt that a watermill conserved in a still state is almost a dead one. In the summer of 1979, they called the Watermill Symposium to openly discuss the importance of conserving the Asakura Multiple-wheel Watermills in a motion state. Some 100 people gathered from around the country. This symposium had a great impact not only on the general public in the Asakura area but on the policy makers in Kyushu. The mayor of the town of Asakura made his position clear that these unique watermills had better be preserved. The conservation movement won—though not permanently. From this movement, the Watermill Association of Japan (Nishi-Nippon Suisha Kyokai) was started in 1981. The series of events in Kyushu, the victory for conserving tlie Asakura multiple-wheel watermills, the birth of the Watermill Association of Western Japan, and work on saving other watermills has brought forth new interest in water power. While it might not replace the oil civilization, it can certainly service to support a positive re-evaluation of the vernacular technologies and cultural traditions of Japan, o O The Other Japan
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