Harie

Harie is a beautiful area as a part of the city of Takashima rather near to Lake Biwa.

Kyoto is towards the bottom of the lake for reference!

This district became quite popular after being featured in a drama and making the list of Japans cleanest and most beautiful cities that ought to be preserved list for quite a few years running. 

This town is especially unique because it is a natural water spring. A spring far, but not overly far, below ground contains the purest water in the country. The water preserved there in the underground caverns is approximately 200 years old! Pretty much Edo-period water there. Anyways, this town has several pipes leading to this untainted underground source. They have to be very careful in this procedure as to not taint the water when introducing new elements. They are very proud of the water pureness in this village. They explained to me on my tour that normal water in a bottle, or from a filter will contain something like 150 elements or contaminants, and to the public, that is considered clean water; however their ancient water from underground contains less than 10. I can't honestly comment on whether that is good or bad, not knowing what specifically the elements are, but I can say that it is pretty impressive. 

The water streaming from these pipes is at a constant 13 degrees Celsius, which might sound cool to you, but in the winter that is actually quite warm. So no matter the time of year, the water streaming from the tap is always refreshing. In the summer you will see the central stream full of brilliant green baikomo grass with its little white flowers and sometimes a fish or two darting between them. You will also see kids playing in the center stream, holding races on home made rafts or catching fireflies. The water is a very central part of this community. 

In addition to a type a central well, many houses have their own personal taps that they call kabata. These kabata formerly used to be all outdoor, though more modern homes have been building them indoors. They are normally constructed in close range to the kitchen so that the distance to fresh water for cooking is relatively close. There will be drying racks and shelving for cookware, and of course the ever-present carp. The kabata for a sort of pool of water about the size, or perhaps a little large than a child's' inflatable swimming pool with a grated exit leading to an aqueduct that runs alongside every house in the area, and will eventually filter into the rice patties nearby and from these to the Harie river and on to Lake Biwa. The exit is grated to keep the carp inside, and others out. Pretty much just to maintain their populations and per capita location. 

The town employs the use of carp to help keep their water clean. That is right those giant Japanese fish. These fish will apparently eat anything, and everything for that matter. And in doing so, there are no mosquitoes, no pollutants, and no insects. Additionally in each homes individual kabata, they keep them as a sort of family pet and dish cleaner. You see, when the family finishes a meal, the put the dirty remains of their cookware in the kabata to be cleansed by the carp, who will scavenge all remaining morsels.   

But being a part of their community is not as easy as it sounds. When you join this community, which is in itself no easy task, you pledge yourself to uphold the community's preservation of their naturally clean water.  This means that any dirty business must occur down stream. This is exactly why the rice patties are at the ends of the aqueducts and not in the beginning or middle; because it taints the water with mud. So all vegetable washing or muddy kid rinsing must either be down down stream or in a shower. Yes, they do have plumbing and running water, but for the most part the people there will only use it for toilets and showers and such. Others there actually draw up water into a pump system to be used inside the household. 

In addition to upholding the communities customs for preservation, a few times a year the main canal and aqueducts are thoroughly cleansed and raked clean of the baikomo and any other vegetation or pollutants. A task that requires the entire communities involvement. One cannot so easily get out of this duty as they hold the right of home ownership over the individuals and tell them that they may remove them from the community if they cannot participate.