The rebuilt large water mill as the iconic symbol of the hometown
I would like to introduce the big water mill built at the shore of Lake Biwa inland swamp, located at Notogawa Town (currently Higashi-Omi City), Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The history of watermills of this area (Notogawa) goes back a long way; it is said that their prototype was brought to Japan—and the Notogawa area as well—in the first half of the 7th century by the priest from the Korean Peninsula. In this area, many watermills utilizing the clear flow of rivers had been installed and used for tasks such as rice polishing and milling. However, as machine-based rice milling became widespread, watermills disappeared from the landscape in 1960's. In recent years, as part of the Hometown Revitalization Project promoted by the government, the town's iconic watermill (13 meters in diameter) was installed in 1991 at this place. This first water mill had been working until 2004. Then the second water mill became the successor. However, due to deterioration, the second watermill coul...
