Kiso Three Rivers

The Kiso Three Rivers — the Kiso, Nagara, and Ibi — together form the broad alluvial plain of the Nōbi lowland in central Japan. For centuries the rivers were notorious for devastating floods; during the Edo period, large-scale embankment and canal engineering was undertaken to contain them, and remnants of that hydraulic infrastructure remain visible across the landscape today. The extensive levee system now serves as a network of cycling and walking paths, with open views across the flat delta plain and fishing spots along the banks — a quiet, expansive counterpoint to the densely settled lowland around it.