In Mizushima, there is an Edo-period sluice gate called Itajiki Sluice Gate, built toward the end of the Edo period.
Most of present-day Kurashiki City was created through land reclamation and new-field development from the Edo period onward, making land reclamation inseparable from the history of Kurashiki City. For this reason, Itajiki Sluice Gate was designated a Kurashiki City cultural property (historic site) in 1995, and was later designated a component cultural property of Japan Heritage.
Through Itajiki Sluice Gate, which has remained in Mizushima across the ages, we will explore the history of new-field development and land reclamation in Kurashiki.
Entry inside Itajiki Sluice Gate is prohibited.
This time, we obtained permission from Kurashiki City to enter and take photographs.
The information presented is as of the article's publication in September 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About Itajiki Sluice Gate
Itajiki Sluice Gate is one of three sluice gates built to drain excess and wastewater from Fukuda Shinden, reclaimed between 1845 and 1852.
Excess water
Water drawn into rice paddies and other fields.
Wastewater
Water drained from rice paddies and other fields.
The sluice gate is 10 meters wide and 6 meters deep, and its stone walls are made of granite.
According to the “Fukuda Town Chronicle,” the development of Fukuda Shinden was proposed in 1835 by eight village headmen from Kojima County, but it seems that it was difficult to find a contractor because the project required a large sum of money.
Although nearby villages also opposed the project, ten years after the proposal, in 1845, Kyu Gohei, the village headman of Yanaita Village in Kojima County, obtained permission from the Ikeda domain and began developing the new fields.
The contractor later changed from Kyu Gohei to Nozaki Buzaemon, known as the “Salt King”, and Itajiki Sluice Gate was completed in the summer of 1849.
A stone in the sluice gate’s stone wall is engraved with “Built in the summer, sixth month of the second year of Kaei,” which also tells us when it was constructed.
Public works in the Edo period were ordered by the Edo shogunate or a domain and carried out by wealthy people such as village headmen.
Land reclamation for Fukuda Shinden also began with Kyu Gohei, the village headman of Yanaita Village, as the contractor, but when his funds ran out, the contractor changed to Nozaki Buzaemon. It is said that Nozaki Buzaemon was rewarded for a series of developments, including salt fields and new fields, by being granted the right to use a surname and wear a sword.
Stories about the construction of embankments and sluice gates also show how Edo-period society differed from today.
Itajiki Sluice Gate and Land Reclamation
Most of present-day Kurashiki City was created through new-field development and land reclamation during the Edo period.
Land reclamation expands the land by building embankments and sluice gates, separating the sea from the land and draining the water.
By turning reclaimed land into rice fields, the amount of land suitable for growing rice was increased. This is new-field development. Reclaimed land also contains a lot of salt because the sea is drained to create more land.
Until rice could be grown, salt-tolerant cotton and igusa (rush) were cultivated, and the town of Kurashiki developed through these crops.
It seems that there were also several sluice gates near the Bikan Historical Area while land reclamation was underway in the Edo period, but once reclamation was complete, the embankments and sluice gates had served their purpose and were demolished.
However, Itajiki Sluice Gate was built toward the end of the Edo period and continued to serve as an embankment even after land reclamation was complete.
The structure surrounded by the green fence is Itajiki Sluice Gate, and the road extending into the distance on the left is where the embankment once stood.
The land around Itajiki Sluice Gate is owned by Kurashiki City, and it was left untouched even when the sea in Mizushima was filled in and factories were built. As a result, it remains standing today without being demolished.
The Difference Between Land Reclamation and Landfill
The land in Mizushima was created through land reclamation and landfill.
We were also told about the difference between the two.
First, land reclamation is generally carried out for the purpose of developing new fields.
For this reason, a map titled “Fukuda Shinden Embankment, Sluice Gate, and Irrigation Canal Construction Completion Plan” remains, showing the land, irrigation canals, embankments, and sluice gates created as part of the development of Fukuda Shinden.
Itajiki Sluice Gate was built to carry out land reclamation for the purpose of developing new fields.
By contrast, the land for the Mizushima Industrial Complex was created through landfill during the postwar period of rapid economic growth.
Land reclamation expands the land by building embankments and sluice gates to separate the sea from the land and drain the water, whereas landfill means creating new land by piling up dredged sediment and other materials on the seabed.
Dredged sediment
Sediment scooped up from the bottom of a port, river, or canal.
Even within Mizushima, Fukuda Shinden and the Mizushima Industrial Complex differ in the purpose and method by which their land was created.
Itajiki Sluice Gate can also be considered the “boundary between reclaimed land and landfill” in Mizushima.
From the Writer
Itajiki Sluice Gate is the only site in Mizushima designated as a component cultural property of the Japan Heritage story “A Kurashiki story beginning with a single cotton flower.”
While disused sluice gates are often demolished, Itajiki Sluice Gate is a valuable site that conveys to the present day its original appearance and the history of land reclamation.
When exploring local history, attention often focuses on buildings and culture, but land development and infrastructure are also essential to progress.
Itajiki Sluice Gate is a component cultural property that tells us this.
Articles About Japan Heritage in Kurashiki City
Itashiki Sluice Gate Information
| Name | Itashiki Sluice Gate |
|---|---|
| Address | 4-chome Nansei, 3-chome Shiotsu, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Website | Itashiki Sluice Gate | Kurashiki City Website |
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