0000-ashizu dam

Location: Ashizu, Chizu-cho, Hachigashira-gun, Tottori Prefecture
Date of interview: 2011/04/04 (Monday)

Ouchi Power Plant of Chugoku Electric Power Co.

From Kawakami Dam (Okayama), we headed to Mitaki Dam for our first experience with a buttress dam. On the way, we came across a hydroelectric power station with a rather classical building. It is the Ouchi Power Station of the Chugoku Electric Power Co. The Chugoku region is a wonderful place to encounter this kind of architecture.

Chugoku Electric Power Company New Oro Power Plant

Further along Prefectural Route 6, you will come across another unusual building. This is the New Daro Power Plant. It seems to be a semi-underground power plant.

Ashizu Power Plant of Chugoku Electric Power Co.

Then we meet another power plant. Three power plants. By the time we reached Mitaki Dam, there were three hydroelectric power plants. The abundance of water in the river here must have been very attractive to use for hydroelectric power generation.

Ashizu Dam, Chugoku Electric Power Co.

Then I looked aside and saw the words "Ashizu Dam". Huh? I don't think it was in the dam handbook. After returning home, I checked and found that the embankment height was 12.7 meters, so it was not a dam under the River Law. Still, I don't know which part is the embankment.

View of the water intake and dike from the right bank

This winter was quite a heavy snowfall in Tottori. There was no snow at all at the Ouchi and New Oro power plants, but up here, there was a good amount of remaining snow and even a fence, making it somewhat difficult to take pictures. Thanks to this, I ended up on the wrong side of the road. The narrow part at the back looks like an embankment, but it looks like a sub-dam. On the left is the water intake.

View of the embankment on the lake side from the right bank

It looks like a reverse regulating reservoir for the Ashizu Power Plant, but when people say this is a dam, it doesn't ring a bell at all. Well, it is a weir, but.... I found some photos of water flowing through the conduit on the Internet, but how they were taken is a mystery to me. It looks like it is off-limits and you can't get in....

Waterway? View of the waterway

We no longer know what this structure is.
Then we will go further upstream to the Mitaki Dam.
interpoint (interword separation)
interpoint (interword separation)
interpoint (interword separation)
interpoint (interword separation)
interpoint (interword separation)
interpoint (interword separation)
Unfortunately, the snow removal work was not finished, and 2.2 km before the Mitaki Dam, the road was blocked by a yumbo and we had to give up.

Ashizu Dam Specifications

Other facilities/observations