Where the water from Utsui first arrives
The Shimonoseki City Waterworks Bureau Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well is a circular brick well built in 1906 at the Takao plant in Kasugacho, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on January 16, 1998. It stands at the western edge of the plant and is the first point reached by water piped some 12 kilometres from the Utsui reservoirs.
The city calls the receiving well the plant's front door. Incoming water settles here before being divided among the filter beds, and the Japanese name, chakusui-sei, literally a well where the water arrives, says exactly that.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as brick, circular, with an inner diameter of 3.55 metres; its description and the city's page round this to about 3.6 metres.
Why it was registered
The Shimonoseki City Waterworks Bureau Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency's note explains that Shimonoseki's waterworks, begun in 1901 and supplying water from 1906, was the first in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and places the well among the original structures surviving at Utsui No. 1 Reservoir and at Takao.
Water treatment runs in sequence: receive, filter, store, distribute. Because this first step survives in its Meiji form, the four registered structures at Takao cover the whole process from start to finish.
What to look for
The Takao receiving well is a ring of brickwork topped with a coping of granite. Red brick held by a pale stone rim is the same treatment used on the edge of the No. 4 circular filter bed, a sign that the plant was designed as a consistent whole.
It is a small cylinder, not much more than 3.5 metres across, yet all the water that has come down from the hills 12 kilometres away passes through it. Keeping that contrast in mind changes how the modest structure looks.
Visiting the receiving well
The Shimonoseki City Waterworks Bureau Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well is inside an operating plant, and seeing it requires advance application to the Water and Sewerage Bureau. You cannot walk into the grounds unannounced.
On an arranged visit, starting at the receiving well on the western edge lets you follow the water in order: filter bed, regulating well, distribution reservoir. The well itself cannot be entered; you see its brick wall and stone rim from outside. Ask about photography when you apply.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Yamaguchi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Shimonoseki City Waterworks Bureau Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well
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Q&A
- Can visitors see the Shimonoseki City Waterworks Bureau Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well?
- Yes, but only by advance application to the Shimonoseki City Water and Sewerage Bureau, as it lies inside a working plant.
- What does the Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well do?
- It is where water from the Utsui reservoirs first arrives; the city calls it the plant's front door. From here water is divided among the filter beds.
- How big is the Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well?
- It is circular with an inner diameter of 3.55 metres according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, given as about 3.6 metres in its description and by the city.
- When was the Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well built?
- In 1906, as part of the original waterworks begun in 1901.
- When did the Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well become a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on January 16, 1998.
Basic Information
| Name | Shimonoseki City Waterworks Bureau Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well |
|---|---|
| Location | 8-1 Kasugacho, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered January 16, 1998 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Brick; inner diameter 3.55 m |
| Owner | Shimonoseki City |
| Public Access | Visits by advance application |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs Database: Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00000482
- Cultural Heritage Online: Takao Water Purification Plant Receiving Well (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/165792
- Shimonoseki City: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of the Waterworks (Japanese)
- https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/site/water/5626.html
Last verified: 2026.09.27
