[JAPAN] Yoichi Hatta Tribute - Civil Engineer, a Hero of Taiwan

Описание: This video is dedicated to Mr. Yoichi Hatta, a Japanese civil engineer who rescued Taiwan from famine.
In 1886, Yoichi was born in Hanazono Village, Kahoku District, Ishikawa Prefecture (currently Imamachi, Kanazawa City). After graduating from the Civil Engineering Dept of the Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo Imperial University in 1910, he got a job as a technician in the Civil Engineering Division of the Interior Bureau of the Governor's Office of Taiwan, one of the annexed territories of Japan.
In Taiwan during the J-annexation era, since Shinpei Goto, the first Secretary of Civil Affairs, measures to prevent infectious diseases like malaria have been focused on, and Yoichi was initially engaged in hygiene projects such as Chiayi City, Tainan City, Kaohsiung City, etc. He was in
charge of the maintenance of water and sewage in each city. Afterward, he moved to the power generation and irrigation sector.
In 1910, Yoichi was to serve Yashiro Hamano at the Civil Engineering Division of the Govt-General of Korea, another annexed territory of Japan. Yoichi learned a lot from Hamano while conducting a field survey in the Tainan Waterworks project, and that experience was put to good use in the Chianan Irrigation and Wushantou Dam. When Yoichi left Taiwan in 1919, his statue was erected in Tainan Suido. The statue was diverted to materials under the wartime metal supply order, but was recreated by Chi Mei Corporation's founder, Shi Wen-long, and was installed in the original water source in 2005.
At age 28, Yoichi was entrusted with the irrigation work of Taoyuan Daisen, which was under construction at that time, but succeeded and received high praise. At that time, Taiwan was a rewarding stage for irrigation engineers in the midst of the infrastructure construction boom. At the age of 31, Yoichi married Toyoki (16), the eldest daughter of Yoshitaro Yonemura, a practitioner in his hometown of Kanazawa, who later served as a member of the Ishikawa Prefectural Assembly.
In 1918, Yoichi conducted a survey of the Kanan Plain in southern Taiwan. The Chiayi-Tainan Office area was large enough to enter the area of ​​the plain, but the Chiayi Plain had a large area in Taiwan. Due to insufficient irrigation facilities, about 150,000 hectares of fields in the area were constantly at risk of drought. Thus, under the discretion of the Minister of Civil Affairs, Hainan Shimomura, Yoichi submitted a plan to construct a dam for the water in Guantian Valley, build a tunnel, and draw water from the Zengwun River to build another dam, and after further scrutiny. It was submitted to the Diet and approved.
The beneficiaries formed and implemented the "Guantian Irrigation Union (later the Chianan Irrigation Union)," and half of the project was covered by Japan's national funds. For this reason, Yoichi was willing to abandon his position as a national civil servant and became an engineer with this union and directed the construction from 1920 to 1930 until completion.
The construction, which required a total construction cost of 54 million yen, was completed as a large reservoir, Wushantou Dam, with a full water area of ​​1000 hector and an effective storage capacity of 150 million cubic meters of rice field. This entire irrigation facility is called Chianan Irrigation. When constructing the dam, accommodations, schools, hospitals, etc. were also constructed to enhance the welfare of workers. The year after the explosion, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck and workers had to be dismissed to cut the budget. Yoichi thought that a talented person would be able to get a new job soon, so he dismissed the talented person and took care of the re-employed person.
Wushantou Dam: The nickname of Coral Tan was given by Hainan Shimomura (March 11, 2004). The Wushantou Dam has been moistening the Kanan Plain since the 2000s, but now it has given its major role to the Zengwun River Dam (Taiwanese version). This Sobunkei Dam was completed in 1973; the construction plan itself was by Yoichi. In addition, the semi-hydraulic fill method (which uses almost no concrete) using clay, sand, and gravel collected by Yoichi makes it difficult for earth and sand to accumulate in the dam, and it was made at the same time in recent years. It is working well as the dam becomes dysfunctional. The Wushantou Dam is maintained as a park, with a statue of Yoichi Hatta and a tomb. There is also a memorial hall to honor Yoichi.


Thanks for watching...; please give a massive thumbs up! My videos are sort of related, so enjoy others as well. Peace out... to beautiful souls out there in the world. Cheers!