Kiryu City Waterworks High and Low District Distribution Facilities

Early Showa Water Facilities on the Tsutsumi-cho Hill

The Kiryu City Waterworks High and Low District Distribution Facilities (桐生市水道局高区・低区配水施設) are reinforced concrete water facilities of 1932 on the hill at Tsutsumi-cho, Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture, whose high and low district distribution reservoirs and meter houses were registered in 1997 as four Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records Kiryu City as owner.

The Agency notes that Kiryu's waterworks are unusual in keeping a complete set of early Showa facilities, from the Motojuku purification plant to the high and low districts at Tsutsumi-cho.

Planning and Layout

According to the Agency, the whole system was planned by Nakajima Eiji of Tokyo Imperial University in the Taisho period and by Kusama Takeshi and Numata Seiya in the Showa period.

The high district reservoir lies north of the former distribution office, 21.6 by 24.2 metres and 4.5 metres deep. The low district reservoir to its south is 29.9 by 29.2 metres and 4.5 metres deep.

The high district meter house stands between the two reservoirs, nearer the low district one; the low district meter house stands on lower ground east of the low reservoir and is identical in size, form and design. Both are small buildings of 6.2 square metres, with curved roofs and doorways and scratch-tile dados.

The Waterworks Memorial Hall and Kiryu's Water System

Kiryu City explains that the former distribution office on the same hill is a single-storey timber building of 1932 whose vertical lines show the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright, with scratch-tile walls and a Spanish-tile roof in a mountain-lodge style. It ceased operating in 1972 and, after renovation in 1985 and 1986, opened to the public as the Kiryu City Waterworks Memorial Hall.

The city counts twelve registered waterworks buildings in all, including the Motojuku plant and the former waterworks office now used as the Nishi community centre.

Visiting

The reservoirs and meter houses are part of a working water system, and no official information on visiting them could be found.

Kiryu City says the Waterworks Memorial Hall is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., free of charge, closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and from 29 December to 3 January. Enquiries: Kiryu City Waterworks Bureau general affairs section, 0277-32-4352.