Date of the interview: Sunday, October 6, 2013
On this day, I was touring the dams along the Kiso River to take dam photos for the presentation and exhibition at the with DAM NIGHT in Nagoya, when I suddenly remembered that there was a dam I had not yet seen, so I came to this Tokiwa Dam. Tokiwa Dam is a gravity-fed concrete dam owned by Kansai Electric Power Co.
Looking upstream from Oshima Bridge
As many of you know, the Tokiwa Dam is unfortunately generally best viewed from the location in the photo below. There are piers of the old Oshima Bridge, and this is a nice atmosphere...
Tokiwa Dam Management Office
The reason is that the area around the embankment is completely off-limits. I would love to see the old dam with my own eyes, but there is nothing I can do.
The dike in the back
Another gate is also as shown. It seems that there used to be an access point (former Mitake Village tennis court?) on the downstream side of the dam. There used to be a point of entry (former Mitake Village tennis court?) on the downstream side, and there are photos of the embankment from a slightly bird's eye view in dam handbooks, etc. However, it seems that it is now surrounded by a fence and cannot be viewed in a straightforward manner.
The photo above also shows a preliminary gate on the left, something that looks like a shrine to a god on the right, and many other things of interest.
Looking toward the levee from the fence
You can see the gate winder across the road, but this is the best I can do...
Discharge warning sign
Water taken from the Tokiwa Dam is pumped approximately 2.4 km in a straight line downstream to the Joban Power Station, which generates a maximum of 15,000 kW of electricity. The Joban Power Station was the first hydroelectric power station built in the Nippon Hatsuden era.
If I have a chance, I would like to see the embankment properly...such was the case with the Tokiwa Dam.
Tokiwa Dam Specifications
Location | Mitake Aza Shimodono, Kiso-cho, Kiso-gun, Nagano |
River Name | Kiso River System Ohtaki River |
Objective | P(Power generation) |
Model | G(gravity-fed concrete dam) |
Bank height | 24.1m |
Bank length | 111.9m |
Dam volume | 27,000 m3 |
Watershed Area | 553.7 km2 |
Reservoir area | 27 ha |
Total storage capacity | 1,288,000 m3 |
Effective water storage capacity | 664,000 m3 |
Dam operator | Kansai Electric Power Co. |
Main body constructor | Kumagai Gumi |
Year of launch | 1939. |
Year Completed | 1941. |
Name of Dam Lake | - |
Other facilities/observations
The area 90 m upstream and 275 m downstream from Tokiwa Dam seems to be a no-take zone.
Parking lot | × |
Toilet | × |
Park | × |
PR Exhibition Hall | × |
Fishing | ○ |
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