Sluice Gate Walk

Back in the 1850s, Japan was forced to open its ports to international trade. Realizing that it was outmatched, the local feudal lord (daimyo) in Kagoshima sent a number of teenagers to Europe and the U.S. to study government and industrial techniques. When they returned, the daimyo created a steel foundry (Shuseikan) next to his family estate at Senganen to make cannons. The foundry needed charcoal (obtained by charring bamboo from a small company created by local hero Saigo Takamori), and water power. Initially, they used water diverted from the Inari river a few miles away to power a water wheel. Later, the foundry converted to steam power. About 2017, the sluice gate used for diverting the water from the Inari was designated a World Heritage site.



When I first came to Kagoshima, in 2011, I wanted to explore the city and see what I could find. Over the next few years, this took the form of "long walks," anything that took more than 4 hours to complete and covered more than 4-6 km (3-4 miles). Later on, I'd thought that I'd seen all there was worth sightseeing, and limited my long walks to the Kotsugi river, and Ishibashi (stone bridge) park areas. But, a couple years ago, I noticed this sign for a sluice gate, pointing away from the old cannon foundry near Senganen, and got curious about it. The problem was, I couldn't find the place on google maps, and I couldn't remember exactly where the sign was. Then, on May 1st, in the middle of the Golden Week holidays, I decided that enough was enough, and I needed another long walk. And, I'd try to get to the sign to start with.



It's about one mile to the sign, down near the Saigo Takamori Memorial Cemetery, 4-5 blocks the other side of the Reimeian history museum from me. And the sign is just across the street from Liberty Cafe, a little sandwich and coffee shop I'd discovered a year ago. I figured that if anyone would know the best way to walk to the sluice gate site, they would, so I went inside to get a couple tuna sandwiches and coffee to go. However, none of the staff had ever noticed the sign before and they had no idea what I was talking about. I'd taken a photo of it just in case, and showed it to the owner, who disappeared to get a tablet and do a google map search. As we were talking, this one older, noisy woman decided to get involved. The next thing I know, she's telling me to get into her car so she can drive me the 6 km (4 miles) there.



She asks me where I'm from, why I'm in Kagoshima, etc., and why I would do something insane like walk 4 miles to something I know nothing about, and I'm watching the scenery go by, and go by, and go by, wondering what I've gotten myself into. Eventually we drive past the entrance to a gift shop advertising itself as being part of the sluice gate site, and pull into a driveway another half-mile farther on. At first, I thought that this was part of overflow parking for the gift shop, then I discover my new tour guide is lost and asking a couple guys for directions. There's a few minutes of confused discussions on both sides, then one of the men offers to take me off my tour guide's hands. She's happy to unload me on him, kicks me out of her car, and drives off. Turns out, this is a lumber yard of sorts, and the oldest guy is the owner, while the younger one is a kind of carpenter picking up supplies. I get in his truck, and he takes me to his house, where he plans to change to his wife's car.



During the drive, he tells me that he makes the smaller rope ornaments used at shinto shrines, and that the rice paddy where he grows his rice for stalks for making the ropes is right in front of the sluice gate site. But, he's never visited it himself. His wife comes out with a couple cans of canned coffee, and the rope maker gives me one. We switch vehicles and drive back to the lumberyard and then down to the gift shop parking lot, and past that to the rice paddy, which is still dry land because it's too early in the year for planting. We walk the hundred meters or so to the sluice gate site entrance, and are greeted by one of the three volunteers working on the weekend.



I then discover the history of the sluice gate, and the fact that it was used to channel water over at least 7 miles to Senganen, to feed the foundry next door. Most of the route was discontinued years ago, but the dam itself remained intact. After the location was designated a world heritage site, the local Kagoshima people learned about its existence for the first time, and they started getting more visitors. The three volunteer guides all consider me to be an oddity, and everyone wants to hang around and ask me questions. No one believes that I plan on walking back to Kagoshima after this.



The photo here shows the "leat." The funny part is that when I first saw the English translation of the sign, I thought it spelled "leaf," and I really wanted to know what a "yoshino leaf" was that seemed to be so important as to require its own sluice gate. In fact, "leat" is a British word for "an open watercourse conducting water to a mill." In other words, it's the sluice way running from the sluice gate. What really amused me was that when I asked the volunteers what "leat" meant, they'd never actually noticed the word on the signs, or the brochures, before, and had no idea what it meant, either.



Entrance to the site. The leat doesn't actually run anywhere anymore. It just parallels the river for a few meters before being rediverted back into it.

After talking to everyone for half an hour, I begged off and prepared to walk back home. The rope maker took great care to tell me to get on the little road in front of the gift shop, and DO NOT (his emphasis) take any of the side streets (right or left) until I made my way all the way back to the Saigo Takamori Memorial Cemetery. It took me about 2 hours, but it was mostly downhill, and not that bad of a walk. There was little chance of getting lost, especially when I could see the Sakurajima volcano through the buildings, trees and hills to my left. The only downside was that the street was really narrow for several miles, and there's no sidewalk, so I had to step back into the bamboo groves a lot to let cars pass me (or run the risk of getting hit). The route took me back to Liberty Cafe, and I stuck my head in the door just to thank the owner for his attempt to help me look on the map on his tablet (I should have told him the sandwiches were really good), and that I'd gotten to the site safely. After that, it was another 25 minutes to get back home.

It was a fun little adventure, and I appreciate meeting people willing to go out of their way to help me like that. And, the rope maker is a genuinely nice guy. But, the original idea was to get exercise, and to see if I'd survive a 12-mile or so trek. The next day, my feet hurt, so maybe not. On the other hand, there is a bus that runs out on that route, and I could always have taken that back to Tenmonkan if things got grim. But, I may try taking the bus back out some day to explore the area farther out, if the weather is good...