Suo-tsutsumi (Levee)

Built in 1702 by Hasegawa Suo-no-kami Shigeaki (Twelfth Yamada [Yoda] Magistrate)

Among the four remaining auxiliary levees extending from the main levee of the Miyagawa-tsutsumi, the Suo-tsutsumi is the third one from upstream: those auxiliary levees are also called “tsukidashi-tsutsumi” (literally, “protruding levees”) because they protrude obliquely downstream from the main levee.

This mildly curved levee, with a length of approx. 47 m, was designed and built to protect the main levee by weakening the flow of the Miyagawa River in the event of flooding. Even today, it still functions adequately as originally designed. The Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo period (1603–1868) paid 500 ryo of gold (ryo: currency unit used in the Edo period) to financially support the construction of the levee.

The end of the levee is covered with methodically placed fist-sized round stones to prevent its possible collapse.

February 2021

Ise City Board of Education