This was the first canal dug on advice from Yosen Sakamoto, headman of Tazawa Village (present day Miyakawa, Chino City), to the Takashima Domain. In order to divide the region’s precious water, the water intake method was a rare arrangement known as “shibatatae”, where the river was dammed with wood, branches and leaves, and stones, but intentionally made to leak so that water would also flow downstream. Like Okawara Weir, it is a “carryover weir,” and for the weir head works they searched for hard bedrock that wouldn’t be affected by flooding and carved it out so it would pull in water.