Winter Seminaron Human Security Development and Energy Science

History of Keage
Hydroelectric Power Plant― TANABE Sakuro &Lake Biwa Canal ―Jan. 14, 2016

YOSHIDA Hideo

Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Kyoto University
sakura@hideoyoshida.com
http://www.wattandedison.com

Contents
1. Kyoto ― Ancient Capitaland Transfer to Tokyo
2. Lake Biwa Canal
3. Light & Electricity

平安京 Heian-kyo (Heian era: 794-1192)
The city was modelled after
the Tang Dynasty Chinese
capital of Chang'an長安(modern-day Xi'an 西安).

1. Kyoto ― Ancient Capitaland Transfer to Tokyo

Heian-kyo (View from the North)

京都 Kyoto: Japanese Capital for 794-1868
in 794:from Heijo-kyo（平城京） to Heian-kyo（平安京）from the Nara（奈良） era to the Heian（平安） era
Heian Shrine: in 1895 (+1100)
Kyoto Station: in 1997 (+1200)“京”：big or high hill
→ many people → capital“都”：capital

Courtesy of KAJIKAWA Toshio, Kyoto City Archeological Res. Inst.

in 1868: Transfer of the Capital http://find-travel.jp/article/679
from Kyoto（京都） to Tokyo（東京=江戸）
from the Edo（江戸） era to the Meiji（明治） era
population decrease: 350,000 → 200,000

NDL: Kyoto Incline and Lake Biwa Canal (1)What is the Incline?
←picture in (1)picture in (2)→

2. Lake Biwa Canal

See the picture of the Incline published in “Kyoto Meishocho” (1907). It
was taken at Keage (Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto), located at the east end ofthe Kyoto Basin.
(omit)The “Incline” is also called as the “inclined railway,” comprising the rail,machine and related facilities installed to convey cargo on a sloping
surface of canals, mountainside and others. The Kyoto Incline was also a
railroad to tow boats using a hydraulic power generation system. As one
looks at the center of the photo, the rail and a carrier on the rail can beseen. The carrier becomes a bedplate to carry boats.
http://ndl.go.jp/scenery/kansai/e/column/kyoto_incline_and_lake_biwa_canal.html

NDL: Kyoto Incline and Lake Biwa Canal (2)The Incline and Lake Biwa Canal
Why was a railroad required to carry boats? The Incline was made as a part of thecanal construction (1885-1890) to pull water from Lake Biwa into Kyoto. The
overall length of the Incline is 587 meters.
Before the Canal construction, people and horses were only means oftransportation between Kyoto and Otsu, so it was difficult to transport massiveloads. Therefore, people were looking forward to the construction of the Lake
Biwa Canal that would open a waterway to transport goods by boat, which wasintended to contribute the development of Kyoto, after the capital was relocated toTokyo.
The Canal project was not just a enormous project to connect the distance of 20
kilometers from Lake Biwa to downtown Kyoto through many mountains, but it
was also a comprehensive development project to improve waterway
transportation in addition to acquire water for the city, irrigation, power generationand other uses.
The Canal starts from Otsu where Lake Biwa is located, goes through manytunnels including ones dug under Nagarayama, running along the foot ofmountains, and arriving in Keage. From Keage, boats go down a steep of 35
meters using the Incline, to enter Kyoto's city-center through the Kamo River.
Boats can not go down a steep slope alone, so the construction of a railway(Incline) was required to carry the boats on the steep.
http://ndl.go.jp/scenery/kansai/e/column/kyoto_incline_and_lake_biwa_canal.html

Governors of Kyoto Prefecture

1st: 1868-1875
長谷 信篤 NAGATANI Nobuatsu (1818-1902)
2nd: 1875-1881
槙村 正直 MAKIMURA Masanao（1834-1896)
3rd: 1881-1892
北垣 国道 KITAGAKI Kunimichi (1836-1916)

NDL: Kyoto Incline and Lake Biwa Canal (3)Kunimichi Kitagaki, Governor of Kyoto Prefecture,
and a Civil Engineer Sakuro Tanabe
Although the idea of constructing the Canal was around since the Edo
period, it was Kunimichi Kitagaki (1836-1916), the third Governor of Kyoto
Prefecture, who promoted the construction in spite of the amazing cost of
1,250,000 yen (it was an extraordinary price for that time).
The Governor Kitagaki found a civil engineer Sakuro Tanabe (1861-1944)
and appointed him as the project's chief engineer. He was appointed aKyoto government official in 1883, at the young age of 21. He was such ayoung genius that the prototype of the concept for the Canal had alreadybeen done as his graduation thesis at Kobu Daigakko (The ImperialCollege of Engineering) “Biwako Sosui Koji no Keikaku (A Plan for Lake
Biwa Canal Construction).”In 1888 when hydraulic power was successfully generated at Aspen in theUnited States for the first time in the world, Tanabe immediately visited
the site. Tanabe contributed a great deal towards the decision toconstruct a hydroelectric plant during the Lake Biwa Canal construction.
As a result, the Japan's first hydroelectric plant started its operation herein Keage.
http://ndl.go.jp/scenery/kansai/e/column/kyoto_incline_and_lake_biwa_canal.html

田辺 朔郎 TANABE Sakuro (1861～1944)
1877
Entered the Imperial College of Engineering,
Kobu Daigakko (Predecessor of U. of Tokyo)
1882
Bachelor thesis: A Plan for Lake Biwa Canal Construction
1883
Graduation from the Imperial College of Engineering
1885
Began the construction of Lake Biwa Canal
1890
Completed the construction of Lake Biwa Canal
1900
Professor, College of Science and Engineering
Kyoto Imperial University (Predecessor of Kyoto U.)
1916
President, College of Engineering, Kyoto Imperial University
http://wattandedison.com/biwako_tanabe.pdf (in Japanese)Huge Project

http://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/suido/page/0000006469.html

http://agua.jpn.org/biwacanal/route.html

Project with ¥ 1,250,000 at that time(now equivalent to more than ¥ 1000 billion)¥ 150 billion

http://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/suido/page/0000007477.html

Hydroelectric Power Generation

A waterway bridge of
南禅寺 Nanzen-ji

http://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/suido/page/0000007764.html

KeageIncline

Pelton water wheel
蹴上 Keage Hydroelectro
power generation station
4500 kW, 1897
(Electricity was first supplied in 1891)

American Stanley
AC generator

http://www.kepco.co.jp/energy_supply/energy/newenergy/water/plant/ (in Japanese)

The First Train in Japan (Heian Shrine & Meiji-Mura)
Kyoto is the place where the first train in
Japan was opened to traffic in January
1895. This train runs on electric energy
coming from hydroelectricity in the Lake
Biwa canal. The purpose of this train wassending off customers of The Fourth
National Industrial Exhibition held in thatyear. This Kyoto electric railway wasmerged by Kyoto city in 1918, and thename was changed as Kyoto city Line. But
the last line of Kyoto city line stopped in1978.

3. Light & Electricity

http://www.kyoto-okazaki.jp/spot/spsetrn
http://www.meijimura.com/enjoy/sight/building/3-24.html(in Japanese)
Meiji (1968-1912) was a period in which Japan opened
her doors to the outside world and laid the foundation
for Modern Japan by absorbing and assimilating
Western culture and technology.

Green-Tea Break: 1st Law of Thermodynamics
Onigiri: 160kcal
How high is the potential energy
for a person who is 50kg in weight?

J   N  m    kg 2 m  m    kg 2m 2

 s  s
mgh  160kcal   160  4.2kJ   670kJ 670  10 3 J h 1370 m 50kg  9.8 m s 2- We can climb Mt. Fuji with 3 onigiri.
- If we fall from the height of 1370m,
we clash on the ground with velocity ofv  2 gh  2  9.8[ m/s 2 ]  1370[ m ]  164 m/s   590[ km/h ]Light & Human Being
An old legend recorded in the fifth century BC byHerodotus, although probably apocryphal, captures theself-indulgence of the Old Kingdom. In the tale Pharaoh
Menkaure-Khufu's grandson and the builder of the third
Giza pyramid-receives an oracle that predicts he will live
only six years longer. The pharaoh, says Herodotus,“had innumerable lamps made, by the light of which he
set himself every evening to drink and be merry, andnever ceased day or night from the pursuit of pleasure....
His object in this was by turning night into day to extend
the six remaining years of his life to twelve, and so toconvict the oracle of falsehood. ”
http://cyberperv.narod.ru/pages/edu.htm
李白(Li Po, Li Bo, Li Bai; 701-762)
夫天地者，萬物之逆旅。光陰者，百代之過客。
而浮生若夢，為歡幾何？ 古人秉燭夜游，良有以也。
“春夜宴桃李園序: Prologue on a Spring Evening Spent with Cousins in a
Peach Blossom Garden”
http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/dictio/data/kaiga/tourin.htm

Lighting in Japan

Incandescent Electric Light by Swan & Edison (1880)

Gas light,Yokohama (1872)
Tokyo (1874)

Ark light
Tokyo (1882)(Electricity was supplied
by a small generator.)

https://www.kandenkyo.jp/pdf/yukari_vol02.pdf (in Japanese)
https://www.ieij.or.jp/IP/akarinotayori/H17special/ginza.html (in Japanese)

The First Centralized Power Plants & Lighting
in NY Pearl Street (1882)

Thomas Alva
Edison(1847-1931,America)

Joseph Wilson
Swan(1828-1914,England)Thomas Alva Edison, the Bamboos of Yawata and the light for Humankind
It was in 1880 that the genius of Edison and excellent properties of thebamboo on the Otokoyama gods' Mountain in Yawata joined to make theelectric light as a common property of humankind.
http://www.geocities.jp/general_sasaki/yawata-edison-eng.html
http://www.city.yawata.kyoto.jp/0000000459.html (in Japanese)

War of Current (General Electric vs Westinghouse)

DCThomasEdison(1847-1931)[ HenryFord(1863~1947) ]GeorgeWestinghouse(1846 - 1914
Nikola Tesla(1856-1943)

AC

With the opening of the Pearl Street station in New York in September 1892, Thomas Edison
ushered in the electric age. Ironically, however, the success of Edison’s original lighting
system in some ways proved its undoing—or rather, its forced modification. Though Edison
himself emphasized scale and distribution in his system, the demand for electricity soon led
to the desire to build ever-larger power plants and transmit that power over greater
distances. Additionally, with the rapid distribution of industrial electric motors came astrong demand for voltages other than the 110 volts used for lighting. The Edison system,
which used direct current (DC), was ill suited to meet these new demands. The problem oftransmission was even more difficult, since the long distance transmission of bulk
quantities of DC at 110 volts was very expensive. In 1886, George Westinghouse, a wealthyand respected inventor, but a newcomer in the electric power industry, foundedWestinghouse Electric in order to compete with Edison. Westinghouse’s system relied on
the discoveries and patents of Nikola Tesla, a Serbian (from Croatia) immigrant who
passionately believed in the superiority of alternating current (AC) power.
(omit) the use of AC equipment at the huge new Niagara Falls power facility in 1895 marked
the rise of AC current. (IEEE)

Energy for Moving between Kyoto/Osaka & Tokyo
MeansTime[MJ]
Walking (Meal: 2500kcal/day)
15days160
Shinkansen (N700: full)*
2hour30min 200
Automobile (15km/L: 4persons)
6hour
290
Aircraft (Boeing777-200: full)
45min
580
* Power generation efficiency is assumed to be 50%

Thermal Engineering Laboratory: for all & from all