Hokuriku Development Bureau / Ceremony for the 50th Anniversary of the Sekiya Diversion, Passing on History and Roles to the Next Generation
Current Status of Niigata Ozeki
Mayor Nakahara, Chief Naito, and others reenacting the water-flowing ceremony of 50 years ago
On the 10th, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Sekiya diversion channel, which is 1.8 kilometers long and 270 meters wide, at the mouth of the Shinano River (Nishi Ward, Niigata City), the Hokuriku Regional Development Bureau held a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Sekiya diversion channel. ” was held in the park in front of the Sekiya Bunsui Museum.
The ceremony was attended by Niigata City Mayor Yaichi Nakahara, Niigata Prefecture Niigata Regional Development Bureau Chief Takeshi Hoshi, Hokuriku Development Bureau Director Masahiko Naito, residents along the watershed, and local elementary school students. We faced the reproduction of the water passage ceremony that was carried out on this day 50 years ago. Mayor Nakahara, Chief Naito, and others pressed the button to open the flood gate of Niigata Ozeki at the mouth of the diversion channel, recalling the past.
Fifty years ago, after the unveiling ceremony of the nameplate of "Niigata Ozeki" written by then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and the commemorative tree planting, the then director of the Hokuriku Regional Construction Bureau, the governor of Niigata Prefecture, and the mayor of Niigata City pressed a button to operate the floodgate. It is said that when you press , three of the five water gates begin to open slowly, allowing water to flow.
With the opening of water on August 10, 1972, the burial and flood damage that was the fate of Kawaguchi Port was prevented, and the port construction plan for Niigata West Port, where large ships can enter, also progressed.
At the ceremony, Mayor Nakahara said, ``The easy-going Shinano River levee Yasuragi-tei, which serves as a place for Niigata citizens to relax, could not have been constructed without the Sekiya diversion channel and the Niigata Ozeki. I want to teach it to the next generation and connect it to the future."
At the ceremony venue, a quiz rally, an earthquake experience car, and a test drive event for rain experience cars were also held, attracting a large number of citizens.
