Today I am traveling through Yanagawa, Yoshinogari, and the mountainous regions of Kumamoto. Yanagawa City in Fukuoka Prefecture, known as the “city of water,” is a small town generally thought of as a land abundant in water resources. However, historically Yanagawa was not rich in water; rather, the opposite was true, as this entire area was a wetland environment. For more than a thousand years, people devised ways to secure fresh water and to live in a land with poor drainage in order to survive. The culmination of this long history, together with the accumulated wisdom of the people of the land and their continuous ways of living, has shaped the Yanagawa of today, making it essentially a cultural heritage site that embodies the history of those who lived here.
For example, during this journey, some of the areas originally planned for investigation, such as parts of Itoshima and the region from Kumamoto to Miyazaki, have become inaccessible due to landslides and other damages caused by heavy rains earlier this month, requiring flexible adjustments to the itinerary. In contrast, Yanagawa demonstrates a unique appeal in that it shows no trace of such damage. The water channels that run through the city incorporate an ancient wisdom called “horowari” (堀割), and within this small area alone there are 1,100 sluice gates installed. These were built during the Edo period as part of town planning, representing the culmination of efforts to answer the question: “How do we secure water and connect it to daily life?” After the modernization of the Meiji era, an advanced system has been maintained even today, using radar and sensors to adjust the water level as needed. As a result, while other parts of Kyushu have been struck by torrential rains that disrupted people’s lives, Yanagawa has remained unaffected, preserving its calm landscape. During the Hina Matsuri and cherry blossom season, the town overflows with tourists to the point of overtourism, but during other times it is relatively quiet and serene.
From Yanagawa, I visited Saga Prefecture’s representative site, the Yoshinogari archaeological site, for the first time in several years. Since its discovery in the 1980s, Yoshinogari has had a revolutionary impact on Japanese history and has played a pioneering role in archaeology as people sought to understand the Yayoi period. The people who built their base at Yoshinogari, which developed greatly during the mid-Yayoi period, created a vast settlement structure fortified with moats called “kan’ago” (環濠), demonstrating unique national power. Because this large-scale Yoshinogari settlement closely resembled the technologies described in the Wajinden (魏志倭人伝), it fueled arguments that it was the country ruled by Himiko of Yamatai. At the same time, however, excavations at Yoshinogari also revealed that the Wajinden did not necessarily describe ancient Japan with accuracy. For instance, according to the records, the people of Yamatai wore simple clothing, but textiles discovered at Yoshinogari show complex weaving techniques, revealing a major discrepancy.