A Tread Added Four Years Later
Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam is an erosion-control dam of 1937 in the middle reaches of the Jinnosuke Valley at Hakumine, Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture, listed on 23 February 2012 as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. It is 28.5 metres across and 5.0 metres high, and it stands on the gravel trapped by the No. 20 dam below.
That dam dates from 1933, which leaves a gap of four years. In this method of building, you raise the next dam only once the one below has filled. The construction date of Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam is therefore also a measurement: four years of gravel, delivered by the mountain, before the engineers could go on.
Why It Was Listed
The year 1937 falls three years after the flood of 1934, which killed 97 people along the Tedori River. In that flood the Jinnosuke and Yanagidani valleys, where the sabo works stood, did not collapse, and the value of the whole programme was settled in the public mind. This dam belongs to the work that followed immediately after, evidence that the plan begun when the scheme went national in 1927 was still being carried out.
Registration is a notification-based form of protection, lighter than and separate from designation. Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam qualified as a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Japan Society of Civil Engineers certified the stepped dams of this valley as a Civil Engineering Heritage site in 2004.
Coping Gone, Shoulders Replaced
The body is mortared rubble, stone from the valley bedded with mortar. The spillway holds its form as an inverted trapezoid opening upward, but the coping stones along its lip have been lost. The shoulders have been rebuilt in concrete. What survives as built is the masonry at the centre.
At 28.5 metres by 5.0 metres this is a middling structure for the group, but it carries two marks at once: the join where stone meets concrete, and the blunt top edge where the coping used to sit. Eighty-odd years of life in this valley can be read off a single wall.
Visiting
Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam is a working structure and cannot be walked on. Nothing has been built beside it for visitors. Seeing it means climbing the Sabo Shindo trail from Bettodeai and looking down where the slope opens. It sits high in the sequence, so counting up from the lower dams is the surest way to place it.
Nothing prohibits photography. Rebuilding and repair continue in this valley, so working sites should be given a wide berth. Directions, the seasonal car restrictions, the compulsory climbing plan and the museum in Hakumine are set out on the Jinnosuke Valley Sabo Works page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Ishikawa
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam
- [ Kenrokuen Garden & Kanazawa Craft Experiences ]
Q&A
- When was Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam built?
- In 1937, four years after the No. 20 dam below it, which dates from 1933.
- Why the four-year gap from the dam below?
- Because each dam was raised only after the one below it had filled with gravel. The interval was set by how fast the mountain delivered debris.
- How big is Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam?
- It is 28.5 metres long and 5.0 metres high, middling by the standards of the group.
- Can I visit Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam?
- There are no opening hours or fees and the dam cannot be walked on. The public approach is the Sabo Shindo trail from Bettodeai.
- What should I look for at Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam?
- The blunt top edge where the coping has gone, and the concrete shoulders. Only the masonry at the centre survives as built.
Basic Information
| Name | Jinnosuke Valley No. 21 Sabo Dam |
|---|---|
| Location | Hakumine, Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2012/02/23 (Heisei 24) |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | 28.5 metres long, 5.0 metres high |
| Owner | Ishikawa Prefecture |
| Public Access | Working structure in the open; distant views from the trail only |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009155
- Kanazawa River and National Highway Office: Fifteen Facilities Listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.hrr.mlit.go.jp/kanazawa/hakusansabo/03history/touroku.html
- Kanazawa River and National Highway Office: History of the Hakusan Sabo Project
- https://www.hrr.mlit.go.jp/kanazawa/hakusansabo/03history/history01.html
- Kanazawa River and National Highway Office: Civil Engineering Heritage Certification
- https://www.hrr.mlit.go.jp/kanazawa/hakusansabo/03history/isan01.html
- Ishikawa Prefecture: Traffic Restrictions during the Hakusan Climbing Season
- https://www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/hakusan/tozaninf/peak2.html
- Ishikawa Prefecture: Mandatory Submission of Climbing Plans for Hakusan
- https://www.pref.ishikawa.lg.jp/bousai/bousai_g/hakusan_kazan/jorei.html
Last verified: 2026.09.17
