A Study on Kanamawari-siken Sluice

The Kanamawari-siken Sluice is a huge wooden sluice 7.2m wide and 45.3m long, which was constructed on the river mouth of the Ôe River during around 1895. Ôe River was the drainage canal of the Takasu Polder to the Ibi River. In February, 1995, this sluice was discovered by accident and excavated from the inside of the embankment of the Ibi River. This sluice shows the highest level of the original traditional technology in the field of the hydraulic works in Japan before the introduction of the modern Western technology.In this article, we describe the details of the excavation and the structure of this sluice.As a conclusion, we examine the value of this sluice from the viewpoint of technological history and the cultural properties protection.