Yahagi Dam, Arch dam in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, and Ena, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
The Yahagi Dam is a 100-metre-high arch dam on the Yahagi River, on the border of Toyota in Aichi Prefecture and Ena in Gifu Prefecture. Its pale grey concrete face carries horizontal construction joints, five rectangular openings behind a low parapet at the crest, and three blue steel gate structures with white side panels at mid-height. It creates Lake Okuyahagi.
Construction began in 1962 and was completed in 1970, requiring the relocation of residents from nearby villages to make way for the reservoir. The project emerged from postwar efforts to develop water resources and generate electricity for Japan's growing industrial regions.
Lake Okuyahagi, the reservoir behind the dam, is known for cherry blossoms in spring and autumn foliage, and holds black bass, bluegill and crucian carp, drawing anglers. Local festivals are held around the lake, and on holidays riders stop to rest in the car park beside the dam.
The dam straddles the Aichi–Gifu border, with the reservoir, Lake Okuyahagi, in Aichi's Toyota city area. Access is via the Sanage Green Road from Toyota-Fujioka Interchange, leaving at Edashita, then north on Route 11 toward Inabu; from the Ena Interchange take Route 257 south. In autumn, Route 153 through Korankei jams badly.
The dam's four power stations — Yahagi No. 1 and No. 2 and Okuyahagi No. 1 and No. 2 — together reach 1,168,620 kW, one of the Tokai region's main hydroelectric clusters. Okuyahagi is a two-stage pumped-storage plant, routed via Tominaga Dam to avoid the Ise fault between the Yahagi and Kuroda dams.
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