page_title: Tenryū River
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tenryū River / History
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 広重画『東海道五十三次之内（行書東海道）見附 天龍川舟渡し』 English: Mitsuke: Ferry on the Tenryû River (Mitsuke, Tenryûgawa funewatashi), from the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô gojûsan tsugi no uchi), also known as the Gyôsho Tôkaidô
context_page_description: The Tenryū River is a river in central Honshū, Japan. With a length of 213 km, it is Japan's ninth longest river.
  Its source is Lake Suwa in the Kiso Mountains, near Okaya in Nagano Prefecture. It passes Aichi Prefecture, and flows through western Shizuoka Prefecture
context_section_description: The Tenryū River is mentioned in Nara period records as the Violent Tenryū (暴れ天竜 Abare-Tenryū) for its fast, turbulent flow and its propensity to flood. The upper portion of the river (in Shinano Province) was referred to as the Tenryūgawa, whereas the lower portion (in Tōtōmi Province) was often referred to as the Aratama River (麁玉川 Aratama-gawa). In various entries in the national historical chronicle Shoku Nihongi, flooding of the river is mentioned in the years 710 CE and 765 CE. Records through the Heian period and Kamakura period are sparse, but from the Muromachi period, increasing efforts at flood control were made by various warlords and landholders along the river by construction of dikes, levees, and channels.
  With the occupation of Hamamatsu Castle by Tokugawa Ieyasu, considerable efforts were made to increase the revenues of Tōtōmi Province through creation of new rice fields with irrigation from the Tenryū River. However, flooding remained a problem, including a great flood in 1674 which washed away many of the earthen works of previous centuries.
caption: Hiroshige
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