Kyu-Gunchiku Shinchi Ko-go Higomon (Old Gunchiku Shinchi No. 1 Sluice Gate)

Overview

This sluice gate was built as part of the "Gunchiku Shinchi" reclamation project undertaken by the Yatsushiro County in the Meiji era. Three sluice gates—Ko (No. 1), Otsu (No. 2), and Hei (No. 3)—were constructed in 1900 (Meiji 33). Only the Ko-go Higomon, located in Sanbancho, remains in its original state, with the others no longer extant. Designed by Torauo Kawaguchi, a Kumamoto prefectural engineer who later became a professor at the Fifth Higher School, the gate's fundamental structure is stone, but red bricks are used in the arch sections. A notable feature is its ten continuous arches. Since the construction of a new sluice gate in 1963 (Showa 38), this Ko-go Higomon has remained as an auxiliary facility. A 1km-long stone seawall extends along the seaward side of the sluice gate, which, together with the gate itself, represents a historically valuable structure of the Yatsushiro Sea reclamation project and is one of the largest remaining reclamation sites from the Meiji era in Japan.