Virtual Akata 33 Kannon Pilgrimage #24 Takahashi Kanjuro’s House

 

     The #24 deity of the Akata 33 Kannon Pilgirmage is located between the #5 Shinmeisha Shrine and the “Rokkamura Embankment.”

     As you head further up into the mountains from Shinmei-sha Shrine in Akata, you see a large “embankment.”  This is the local water reservoir known as the "Rokkamura Embankment."  Although it is called “embankment,” it is actually a dam, and its reservoir is also called "Rokkamura Embankment."

     The dam was first built from 1751 to 1763, in the mid-Edo period, by the Kameda Domain Government to alleviate water shortages.  At that time, its reservoir water was used to irrigate 6 villages: Hiraoka (Hiraoka Utetsu, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0024), Urushibata (Urushihata Utetsu, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0024), Nakanome (Nakanome Utetsu, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0024), Nyooka (Nyooka Nakadate, Yurihonjo, Akita 018-0722), Hatatani (Hataya, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0052), and Yamada (Yamada, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0025).  Rokkamura literraly mean Six Villages.  The construction work to raise the dam was carried out gradually in the 19th and 20th centuries to increase the amount of water it holds.

     In 1941, in  World War II, renovation work was carried out to irrigate an additional 563 hectares, including the southern half of Utetsu Village (Utetsu, Yurihonjo, Akita 015-0024), and the work was completed in 1950, after the war.  Due to the use of low-quality cement during the war, the facility began to deteriorate, and it was renovated again as part of a large-scale prefectural reservoir project, eventually taking on its current appearance in 1969.

     Ironically enough, no water from the reservoir has been used for Akata Village.  How merciful the villagers were!

The #24 deity was taken care of by Takahashi Kanjuro when the Akata 33 Kannon Pilgrimage was organized.