Kurume History Walks
No.28 Cultural Properties in Mizuma Town* 三潴町の文化財*Mizuma Town, which had been be an independent municipality, merged with Kurume City in 2005

Mizuma Town is located in the southwest part of Kurume City. The place-name of Mizuma (三潴) was
scribed as “水沼 (water and marsh)”, “三万 (three and ten thousand)” on the artifacts of the 8th century, andas “みぬま minuma”, “ミつま mitsuma” in the old documents of about 13th century. From that, this area hadseemingly been characterized by water and marsh. And many traces that people had lived since ancient times
could be discovered in the town.


13000 BCE – 1000 BCE (the Jomon period): A pitfall for hunting was excavated, although any trace of avillage has not been discovered.
300 BCE – 300 CE (the Yayoi period): At a shell mound (Gobyozuka Kaizuka) and a tomb (Eboshizuka),bronze swords, earthenware, etc. were discovered.
794 CE – 1185 CE (the Heian period): "Mizumago" was known at that time as one of eight areas in theMizuma District, which we estimate to be equivalent to the present-day Mizuma Town. There used to besome villages called Takamizuma, Inuzuka, Kiyomatu, and Nishimuta that had been in charge of holding
the rites and festivals in Daizenji Tamatare-gu Shrine.
1603 CE – 1868 CE (the Edo period): Within the area of today’s Mizuma Town, there used to be nineteen
rural villages. Irrigation facilities, such as creek and reservoirs, were built on lowlands and hillsides,
because of the difficulty in getting water to the fields. Since then, a moat named Sengenmizo, and a weirnamed Itsumatazeki are still in use.
1868 CE – 1926 CE (the Meiji and Taisho period): The intake pump devices enabled to take water fromthe Chikugo River in Mizuma Town. Miidera Pump Station is one of those devices which still stands in thefields and which symbolizes the local development in modern times.

Former Miidera Pump Station and Electricity Substation

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Kurume History Walks / No.28 Cultural Properties in Mizuma Town

Former Miidera Pump Station and Electricity Substation
It was built on the left side of theChikugo River in 1933. This red bricksingle-story building with tiled roof iscomposed of three houses different inheight.
In the highest house (120.18 squaremeters), there were two pumps forsending water to the higher areas. The
house of medium height (61.39 squaremeters) used to be the electricity
substation which supplied the electric
power for the pumps in the building. The
smallest house (41.12 square meters) had
a pump for sending water to lowlands.
A local builder took charge of theconstruction, using the roof tiles and thebricks which were produced in theadjacent areas. It stands in the middle offields and has become a symbolic
landscape of the town.
It was registered as a National
Cultural Property in 2008.

Former Miidera Pump Station

Irrigation
Arrangement
canalDrawing
Rice field

Inside the station

PathLayout plan2
Kurume History Walks / No.28 Cultural Properties in Mizuma Town

Municipal Cultural Properties in Mizuma Town
Thin bronze sword
The sword is 28.1 centimeters long, lacking
the tip and the blade. A hole (in the lower part)is to fix a handle to the body of the blade.
It was excavated with another sword in theneighboring ground of the Eboshizuka tomb.
The history of the discovery is not unknown.
Artifacts of the Yugashira-jinja Shrine
The shrine has preserved a bronze sword, astone pike, two stone knives, and seven earrings.
This another sword is 39.4 centimeters inlength and 3.1 centimeters in width at most. Its
tip is round and its shape differs from the above
mentioned. The wooden case was written thata man from Takamizuma village excavated thissword in a field on November 26th 1749, andhe dedicated it to the temple on December 5th.
However, the detail of how it came to the shrine
Thin bronze swords
is unknown.
(Above) Private collection
The stone pike is 13.2 centimeters in (Right) Yugashira-jinja
length. We presume it to be 2000 years old and Shrine’s collection
to be designed after the model of an imported
bronze pike.
Two stone knives, one perfectly formed (12.2 centimeters wide and 4.1 centimeters high), and the otherlacking half.
Seven ear-rings were made of bronze coated with silver foil. The biggest is 3.2 centimeters across and 0.8
centimeters thick. The smallest is 2.4 centimeters across and 0.7 centimeters thick.
The history of the last three artifacts is unknown except the location of discovery, near Eboshizuka tomb.

Stone pike

Stone knives

Ear-rings

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Kurume History Walks / No.28 Cultural Properties in Mizuma Town

Other Cultural Properties
Gobyozuka Kaizuka Mound is 4, 5 meters higher than a field in
the north. Shells and fragments of Yayoi pottery are scatteredaround. Kazusada Yano, a historian of the 19th century andretainer of Kurume Domain, mentioned that a bronze pike (bronzesword?) had been excavated from this mound.
The higher part of Eboshizuka Mound is surrounded by a fencetoday, but the rest was changed into residential land and fields.
Many fragments of Yayoi pottery are still found in fields. As
mentioned above, two bronze swords were discovered from theneighboring land.
Jurenji Kofun Mound had been changed for modern landdevelopment, although it is said to have been a circular burial
mound, thirty meters across, and constructed in the late 5thcentury.

Gobyozuka Kaizuka Mound

Jurenji Kofun Mound

Jars of a particular form are often found around the Takamizuma area. It became a type of pottery from the late
Yayoi period in northern Kyushu. It is named Takamizuka style pottery.
Gobyozuka Kaizuka
Mound

Eboshizuka Mound
Yugashira –jinjaShrine

Itsumatazeki Weir

Former Miidera Pump
Station and Electricity
Substation

Jurenji Kofun
Mound

Map of Mizuma Town

Cultural Properties Protection Department of Kurume
Address: 15-3 Jonan Kurume Fukuoka Japan 830-8520 / Tel: 0942-30-9225
Date of publication: March 31st, 2008 / Translated in September 2020
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