GO WILD TOKYO 8 / Hamura — An Abandoned-Railway Journey Tracing the City’s Memories of Water and Rail
Hamura City, along the middle reaches of the Tama River, is a compact municipality where people and water systems have long coexisted—and where diverse wildlife and human life still share the landscape. In the Edo period, excavation of the Tamagawa Josui aqueduct brought water to Edo. From the Meiji through the Showa eras, construction of the Murayama Reservoir and Yamaguchi Reservoir made Hamura the starting point for sending water to Tokyo—and remain as sources that sustain daily life. Through tours that trace the route of the former Hamura–Yamaguchi Light Railway that was used to build those reservoirs, the Hamura City Tourism Association shares the region’s role and history.