The Plateaus on the Bosom of Time

Forming a part of a high water channel, The Plateaus on the Bosom of Time is located at the southern end of the Haizuka dam area, in the boundary residing to Yasuda life reconstruction site. This location is where the course of the River Jouge flowing from Yasuda no sato, curves in a right angle towards the Chiwa valley. As is demonstrated from the fact that a mountain castle was built in the rear mountains, this place is also a key region in topographic terms.

The actual site was a vacant land left between a residential area, a nursery school and a new cemetery that had been moved from the dam area. In other words, this empty lot was located in the key junction to organically connect these new facilities built without any mutual relationship.

Due to such important function of this vacant land as the key junction between the local community and the natural environment, workshops with children were held a number of times in a four years span. The final proposal to come out from these workshops was a water park built by near-natural construction method. Dedicated to the new settlement which had lost the former village square where Bon-Odori and festivals that used to bring the community together for a long time were held, the park is contrived to also function as an open-air stage when viewed from the opposite bank, with two wood deck stages having an inner garden and an artificial hill that can be used as stage sets, and the valleys alongside the gentle meandering River Jouge and the mountain ridges in the background.

 In legal terms, this construction is not a park but a bank protection work. It is a common practice in riparian works to draw a line for the river area, letting the concrete shore protection stipulate the water flow directly. However, a bold plan to demolish the borderline and drag the bay into the location was proposed. After continuous discussion, the proposal was accepted and consequently a park which could be seen as a revolving stage was built - the whole site resembling an isolated ship or an island floating in the valley. Thus, a sympathetic theater which binds the surrounding natural environment with the life of the people (and various senses) was born.