Kōnosu Nagare（鴻の巣流れ）May 01, 2025
Ōta Ward is known for its many small factories.
Here, a flower blooms quietly beside an old workshop — and the faint trace of a river runs alongside it.
Where I Walked
Google Maps sometimes doesn’t show crosswalks correctly when plotting a walking route, so a few sections end up with unnecessary detours.
It was once a place where storks used to live.
The name "Kōnosu" is made up of two kanji: "kō" (鴻), meaning "stork," and "su" (巣), meaning "nest." So, it literally means "stork’s nest.”
Unlike the lush greenery of the Senzoku Nagare, this stretch felt more sterile — but I could still sense the quiet flow of the river.
This time, I followed a road with regular car traffic.
Interestingly, the Senzoku Nagare, which goes to the left, flows at a slightly higher elevation.
It branches off from the main road with traffic and flows straight between houses and small factories.
On its way upstream, it turns at several right angles before reaching its source.
I’ve read that it was once used as an irrigation channel.
At the bottom of the slope, the river bends at a right angle.
Just beside this slope is Kōnosuzaka. Long ago, the hills around here were known as Kōnosuyama, or “Stork’s Nest Hill.
The path of the old waterway makes a few sharp turns, then becomes even narrower at this point.
Streetlights do turn on at night, but I imagine it would still feel a little spooky walking through here in the dark.
I looked back at the path I just walked.
Here, the river makes a sharp right-angle turn.
A row of stones, likely remnants of the old embankment, lines the bend.
There’s a staircase leading down to the waterway, showing that the stream flows through a small depression in the ground.
Looking downstream from what appears to be the uppermost point of the stream.
What might this place have looked like in the past, I wonder?