Middle Nagase River Villages

The overlay maps and placemarks in this folder began as an attempt to get a fairly accurate picture of the flow of the Nagase River in eastern Osaka Prefecture before the re-channeling of the Yamato River in 1704 reduced it to the size of a small irrigation canal. It soon developed into what might be called an interactive historical map (if a historical map may be thought of not so much a mapping famous events but as visualizing the life of a region over a period of time).

There are 4 overlays:

• one showing the maximum extent of river flow
• one showing the estimated position of the levees which bound it
• one showing a map published in 1912, but showing villages and roads which would have changed little in the several centuries preceding its publication
• one showing a diagram of the major roads in the area during the Edo Period (1600-1868)

There are 4 folders of placemarks with photos:

• one showing the cemeteries built on the margins of the levees
• one showing the villages which were built on either side of the river
• one showing the Shinto shrines associated with these villages (the oldest of which there is reason to believe were established over 1500 years ago)
• one which is a collection of placemarks used first to align the maps but which show places and sometimes things that travelers over these old roads would have seen

A photo overlay was added in June, 2008.


Undertaking this project implies several assumptions, and I would welcome comment on any or all of them:

• Shrines are both of great age and very stable as to their location. The oldest of them pre-date the introduction of Buddhism in the 7th century, and since the location itself or some object at that location is thought to be sacred, there is great incentive not to move them. Villages must have existed, if not in their 1912 locations, at least somewhere near them, since the time they were established.

• The villages that established cemeteries on the river levees must have existed before the river was re-routed in 1704.

• The location of villages must be fairly stable, because the construction of paddy fields is labor intensive. The ground below it must be sealed, then leveled and diked, and then provision for irrigation established. Sensible people would not lightly destroy these assets once they were created, at least until the explosion in the population following the Pacific War made the land many times more valuable as living space than it was for agricultural purposes.

• The location of villages must be fairly stable, because the construction of paddy fields is labor intensive. The ground below it must be sealed, then leveled and diked, and then provision for irrigation established. Sensible people would not lightly destroy these assets once they were created, at least until the explosion in the population following the Pacific War made the land many times more valuable as living space than it was for agricultural purposes.

• For the same reasons, the location of roads would also have been stable, although new conditions (like the loss of the river as a transportation corridor or economic, political, and social changes) would have created needs for more widely traveled if not newer roads to some locations.

Events in 2012 compelled me to either revise or delete all of my Google Earth Community posted files. I considered deleting this one, because it explores an area which differs little from the areas which surround it. Certainly few Japanese would consider it particularly unique, and had I explored a similar area anywhere else, I am certain I would have discovered an equally rich historical legacy. I decided to keep it, partly because it helps me recall that happy autumn nearly six years ago when I cycled down narrow streets searching for historical traces. And I decided to keep it because, for non-Japanese, it may offer a glimpse into Japanese life beyond the stereotypes and tourist posters.

Google Earth has undergone amazing improvements since I first posted this file. Most of the imagery in this area is now clear and sharp, and it is now almost completely served by Street View. My main objective in this revision was to replace the images I had used with those hosted by a different service. This is a boring task, so I couldn't resist making a few changes in the formatting as well, but the images themselves are almost entirely the same as those I originally used. Indeed, I occasionally pass a site I had photographed, only to find that the old building had been pulled down and a new one erected in its place. The overlay of the 1912 map in the first version was painstakingly aligned. The new GE imagery makes alignment easier, but I didn't realign it because there are several image splices in the area, which make precise alignment impossible, and it is possible to find features mapped there that still exist, even if they are several meters off one way or another.

In 2015 I took more time to revise this file than any sensible person would, given the short deadline for getting the passengers off the sinking ship.  This is because the entire area is now in 3D. Placemarks that were once visible had disappeared under trees and buildings. They needed to be moved to a flat place where they could be seen. Besides, a new tilted view gave an much more interesting perspective on the places visited. Only a few of these places are important enough to rate a placemark on their own, but this post is about examining traces of how an area has changed over time. In the 9 years since I began this project, I have often been saddened by the sight of some splendid old building being destroyed to make room for six new homes or a profitable parking lot. Sad, but it's progress, and without progress we'd all be living in caves and log cabins.

My command of the Japanese language is limited and I fear I may have made numerous errors. If you discover any, please let me know.

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File last revised April 19, 2015.