The Dam at the Foot of the Staircase
Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam is an erosion-control dam of 1932 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 measures 40.0 metres across and 4.0 metres high, and it stands lowest of the eleven stepped dams in this valley.
That 40.0 metres makes it the longest of the group. The ten dams above it were each built on the gravel the dam below had trapped, so the whole staircase rests, in a literal sense, on this one. Records describe Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam as the base of the group, and the phrase is not a figure of speech.
Why It Was Listed
Sabo work on Hakusan passed to the national government in 1927, and this dam went up five years later. It predates the flood of July 1934, which killed 97 people along the Tedori River, and it survives as built. That combination, an early piece of the national scheme still in its original form, is what earned it a place on the register. Fifteen sabo structures on Hakusan were listed on the same day in 2012.
Registration is a lighter form of protection than designation. It applies to structures generally more than fifty years old that contribute to the historic landscape of the country, and it works through notification rather than permits. This dam qualified on the landscape criterion. In 2004 the Japan Society of Civil Engineers had already certified the Jinnosuke Valley dams as a Civil Engineering Heritage site, the first such certification in Ishikawa Prefecture.
An Inverted Trapezoid and a Stone Eave
The dam body is mortared rubble, stone quarried in the valley and bedded with mortar in the joints. At its centre is the spillway, cut as an inverted trapezoid that widens towards the top, and the coping stones along its edge project slightly forward, forming something like a small eave. The detail belongs to the first years of the national works on Hakusan and disappears from later structures.
The overhang kept the falling water from running back down the face and working at the masonry. At 4.0 metres, Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam is among the lower dams in the valley, but the 40.0-metre span gives it a different proportion from anything above it: a long, low wall rather than a plug in a narrow channel.
Visiting
This is a working structure on a mountainside, and you cannot walk onto it. There are no viewing platforms or interpretive panels beside it. Seeing Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam means walking the Sabo Shindo trail from the Bettodeai trailhead and looking down into the valley where the trees open, and because this dam sits lowest, it comes into view earlier in the climb than the others.
Nothing prohibits photography. The whole slope here is one of the largest active landslides in Japan, however, and repair work is close to continuous. Descending to the streambed is not provided for, and working sites should be given a wide berth. Directions to the valley, the seasonal car restrictions, the compulsory climbing plan and the museum down in Hakumine are all set out on the Jinnosuke Valley Sabo Works page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Ishikawa
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam
- [ Kenrokuen Garden & Kanazawa Craft Experiences ]
Q&A
- When was Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam built?
- In 1932, five years after sabo work on Mount Hakusan became a directly managed national project in 1927.
- How big is Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam?
- It is 40.0 metres long and 4.0 metres high, the longest of the eleven stepped dams in the Jinnosuke Valley.
- Can I visit Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam? Are there opening hours or an entry fee?
- Neither, because it is a working structure on the mountain. You cannot step onto it; the only public approach is the Sabo Shindo trail from Bettodeai, which passes above the valley.
- What is the heritage status of Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam?
- It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, listed on 23 February 2012. Registration is a separate and lighter system from designation.
- What should I look for at Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 Sabo Dam?
- The coping stones along the spillway, which project forward like a small eave. The detail appears only on the earliest dams of the national works on Hakusan.
Basic Information
| Name | Jinnosuke Valley No. 11 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 | 40.0 metres long, 4.0 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/101/00009147
- 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
