Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall

The Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall

The Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall (米内浄水場水道記念館, Yonai Jōsuijō Suidō Kinenkan) is a single-storey timber building erected in 1934 as the administration office of the Yonai Water Purification Plant in Kamiyonai, Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 23 August 1999. Registered as No. 03-0019, it has a tiled roof and a building area of 157 square meters, and it is the only timber building among the eight listed structures at the plant.

According to the Morioka waterworks bureau, it was built as the plant's office and the caretaker's home when the water supply opened. In 1984, for the 50th anniversary of the city waterworks, it became the Waterworks Memorial Hall, with displays on the history of Morioka's water supply. It is also covered by the city's landscape listing.

Architecture of the Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall

The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall stands toward the southeast of the grounds, where it overlooks the sedimentation basin, the filters and the rest of the plant. Its plan is a squared U, with wings projecting forward on both sides of the front. The hipped tile roof (Yosemune-zukuri) carries a dormer window at the center of the façade, and the use of scratch tile is singled out as typical of the period.

The commanding position presumably let the office staff keep an eye on the basins. Morioka City describes the symmetrical front and the overall look as strongly marked by the modern eclectic style of the early Showa period.

The records disagree on the finish. The city's landscape survey gives the walls as mortar with a lithin (textured render) finish and some washed artificial stone, and does not mention scratch tile. The city also records that the exterior was restored in 1986, faithfully to the original apart from a new entrance canopy with supporting posts.

Inside and around the Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall

Stand in front of the Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall first. Because the two wings come forward, the central entrance sits a step back, and the dormer rising from the middle of the hipped roof marks the axis of the symmetrical front.

The displays are arranged around three characters associated with water: 源 (source), 澄 (clarity) and 涵 (nurture). The first section shows the building's own design drawings and a 1928 map of Morioka, in the room that served as the original office. The second uses photographs to show how the waterworks were built when there were few machines and poor roads. The third covers the protection of the forests that feed the river and the cherry trees planted to mark the founding of the waterworks.

A ramp gives step-free access, and there is a multipurpose toilet beside the car park.

Visiting the Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall

For the Yonai Water Purification Plant Waterworks Memorial Hall, the waterworks bureau lists an opening season from 16 April to 30 November, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (with some exceptions), closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Admission is free, but visitors are asked to apply in advance by calling 019-667-2280. Since the plant grounds are otherwise closed, book ahead and confirm the arrangements.

The hall also opens during the spring cherry blossom opening. In 2026 that ran from 22 April to 6 May, with the grounds open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the hall until 4:00 p.m. No photography policy for the interior is published, so ask the staff. The nearest station is Kami-Yonai on the JR Yamada Line, about a 2-minute walk from the plant gate.