A Transforming River
Basin
The Ama-Tsushima Region
Prologue
A living handicraft
Surmounting floods to
become a rich granary
A new face
 The Owari Tsushima Tenno Matsuri began more than five centuries ago and is one of Japan's biggest river festivals today. (Photos by Tomohiro Muda) |
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A living handicraft
Another exceptional cultural tradition of the Ama-Tsushima region
is cloisonn・making in the neighboring town of Shippo. The art
attained such prominence there that it even lent the municipality
its name--shippo being the word for cloisonn・in
Japanese. Cloisonn・techniques were transmitted to this district
toward the end of the Edo Period (1603ｭ1868) and evolved into a
distinctive style called Owari shippo, earning Japan a
place in the world of modern cloisonn・making and producing many
beautiful cloisonné objects. A number of them were
submitted to the 1900 Exposition Universelle de Paris and the
1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and were very favorably received.
In 1995 Owari shippo was certified by the Ministry of
International Trade and Industry as an important traditional
handicraft, and Shippo remains one of the leading centers of
cloisonn・production in Japan.
"In the past, cloisonn・usually adorned large objects like
jars and vases, but today it's frequently used on accessories
like broaches and pendants, making it a lot more accessible than
before", notes Hisashi Ishizuka, assistant manager of the
Shippo City Industrial Center. "There are thirteen operating
kilns in Shippo right now employing around 100 artisans to keep
the tradition alive. It's getting harder to find young people to
carry on the work, though, and we're hoping to attract more of
them in the future by building what's tentatively called the
Cloisonn・Art Village".
The art village idea was conceived as a way of giving the local
economy a boost. Expected to open in 2001, it will house a studio
where visitors can try their hand at cloisonn・ making and a
gallery to display the works of local artists. It will also have
research and training facilities to nurture young talent.
Surmounting floods to
become a rich granary
Besides its wealth of historical and cultural assets, the
Ama-Tsushima region has another big characteristic: much of the
area is low-lying land that is essentially at sea level. The
three major rivers that flow through the Nobi Plain--the Kiso,
Nagara, and Ibi--are some of the biggest in the country, and they
have not only brought blessings to the Chubu (central Japan)
district but also wrought havoc during typhoons and heavy
rainfall.
The 1959 Ise Bay Typhoon, for example, flooded much of the
Ama-Tsushima region and southern Nagoya and claimed the lives of
4,624 people in Aichi and Mie Prefectures--the biggest death toll
from a typhoon in modern history.
Despite being subjected to countless floods and other calamities,
the residents of the Nobi Plain stood tall, developing a unique
style of agriculture and a culture designed to protect them
against water hazards. They erected dikes around clusters of
farmhouses and built warehouses on high ground to store emergency
food supplies and to flee to in case of flooding. The remains of
these structures can still be found in many parts of the river
basin today.
The village of Tatsuta turned its swampy terrain into an
advantage, moreover, by becoming a top producer of lotus roots.
Autumn is harvest time in the village, not only for lotus roots
but also for rice, and visitors to Tatsuta in the fall are sure
to see many large threshers busily separating rice from husk and
stem.
A new face
The pastoral landscape of the Ama-Tsushima region changes
abruptly as one nears Ise Bay. The southern areas of the village
of Tobishima are part of the western Nagoya industrial belt--with
factories for some of Japan's biggest manufacturers, including
those for aircraft and rocket makers. It can look forward to a
bright future, moreover, as it is the site of new expressway
links to Tokyo and Kobe.
The Ama-Tsushima region has many faces. It is a repository of
historical and cultural riches, and it is also where agriculture
coexists alongside heavy industry. Its proximity to Nagoya,
moreover, has recently given it yet another look, that of a
bedroom community. Efforts have begun to enhance transportation
infrastructure, promote environmental preservation, and construct
sports and recreational facilities with the aim of creating urban
communities that are rich in natural and cultural amenities and
that retain the unique features of each municipality.