A ride down the Hozu River, Kyoto, c. 1920. As log runs through the rapids were replaced by modern overland heavy transport, the stretch of the Hozugawa between Kameoka and Arashiyama evolved into a popular tourist attraction. Back-caption: “Among the numerous tourist attractions of Kyoto and its environs is what is known as ‘shooting the Hozu rapids’.”
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“The Hodzu Rapids”, Kyoto, c. 1910.
Fishing at Hozu River, Kyoto, c. 1910.
The Hozugawa River was originally employed to transport logs that were used to build many of Kyoto and Osaka’s famous temples and castles.
During the Edo Period the river was cleared of obstructions so that boats carrying grain, firewood and other cargo could safely navigate it. Trains and trucks eventually made river cargo transport obsolete, and operations ceased after several hundred years of use.
However, the boats were brought back by the turn of the century, and being navigated through the rapids became popular as a sightseeing tourist attraction.
Hozu River, Arashiyama, Kyoto, c. 1920, showing where the traditional style, flat-bottomed sightseeing boats are docked at the end of the downriver course before being pulled and poled back upriver to the start at Kameoka for a new group of passengers.