Minegishi Watermill

This watermill, called ‘Shin Guruma’, constitutes a rice- and flour-milling plant that operated from about 1808 to 1968. In this plant, machinery including a watermill (4.6 m in diameter), mills for rice and flour milling, a planar sifting machine, an elevator and wooden-toothed gears are preserved as a system just as they were in use at that time. You can see with your own eyes the masterly artisan skills shown in the wooden machinery from the end of the Edo Era to the Taisho Era, rural factory systems, as well as how people lived at the watermill, along with a farmhouse built adjacent to the mill. There are a variety of preservation and succession activities for the watermill, including explanation activities by citizens and comprehensive study programs for children.