🇯🇵 Cycling Fukui: Ono to Manahimeko Lake Round Trip | June 2025 [4K]
This video captures a cycling trip from central Ōno City to Manahimeko Lake (Managawa Dam) in Fukui Prefecture, filmed in June 2025. The ride begins in the expansive Ōno Plain, passing through peaceful countryside with rice paddies and scattered farming villages. The early part of the route follows gentle, flat terrain surrounded by traditional rural scenery.
As the journey progresses, the road gradually climbs into a more mountainous area. At one point, a wrong turn leads to a short stretch of unpaved road, eventually reaching the base of the dam—not the lakeside itself. After retracing the route, the correct road brings the rider up to the main reservoir area of Manahimeko Lake.
Manahimeko Lake is an artificial reservoir created by the Managawa Dam, located deep in the forested valleys of southern Fukui. The lake is named after the legendary Princess Manahime, who is said to have sacrificed herself during a drought to save her village. A golden statue commemorating her stands near the lake.
This route offers a combination of flat countryside riding, mountain foothills, navigation challenges, and a peaceful arrival at a quiet lakeside steeped in local folklore.
1:29:53 Memorial of Shimo-Wakago:
Translation: It is said that the origin of Shimo-wakago dates back to ancient Yamato period when Ōwakago-no-Mikoto pacified the land of Koshi (Echigo) and was granted the territory of Wakago-no-Chi (Narugo) as his domain.
By the medieval period, the village gradually developed as a settlement at the foot of a mountain pass along the trade route connecting Nishidani, Anima, and Minō-Ōno. It enshrined Hachiman Shrine (Dōsai Village) and Hakusan Shrine (Hōtoku Village). In 1603 (Keichō 8), an image of Shōnyo Shōnin was bestowed from Higashi-Honganji Temple, and a sōdōjō (main prayer hall) was established.
For hundreds of years thereafter, the villagers endured hardships in the secluded mountainous terrain, cultivating millet, barnyard grass, and rice while engaging in sericulture, papermaking, charcoal production, ōren (goldthread), tea, and other industries—sustaining their lives alongside the clear waters of the Mana River.
Then, on September 14, 1965 (Shōwa 40), an unprecedented torrential downpour of 1,044 mm struck the upper reaches of the Mana River, bringing catastrophic devastation. Dozens of houses were swept away, and farmlands were ravaged—a scene of unimaginable tragedy.
Due to this disaster, the Ministry of Construction designated the area for flood prevention measures, leading to the construction of the Mana River Dam. With no hope of rebuilding their lives here, the entire village was forced to relocate.
The land where their ancestors had toiled for generations—their graves, traditions, and culture—was destined to be forever submerged beneath the dam’s waters. With heavy hearts, the villagers scattered to new lands, each seeking a new livelihood, thus closing the long history of Shimo-Wakago.
“May the souls resting here find eternal peace.”
To forever commemorate the lives of those who once lived here and to pass down the memory of their homeland to future generations, this monument is erected.
October 30, 1972 (Shōwa 47)
Recorded by Ito Yuzuru(?)
Original Text: 福井県大野市下名立子の発祥は上古大和時代大若子命越の国を平らげて、御名代に若生子の地を賜わつたことに起図すると伝えられている。
中世に至り西谷・穴馬・美濃大野間の中道交易路峠下集落として漸次発展、八幡社（道斉村）白山社（宝徳村）を祀り、慶長八年東本願寺より証如上人の絵像下附、総導場の建立など。
爾来星霜幾百年狭謐な山野の地勢環境で、稗・粟・米食文化えと苦難に増え、養蚕・製紙・木炭・黄蓮・茶等を生産し真名川の清流と共にその生活があつた。
ときあたかも昭和四十年九月十四日真名川上流を中心に襲った千四十四耗の前古未曾有の集中豪雨によって、壊滅的災害を蒙り、流失家屋十数戸、田細の流荒廃等その惨状目を覆うものあり。
この風水害に起因、建設省の防災目崎から真名川ダムが建設されることと
なり、この地での復興の望みも絶え、全部落民は移住の止むなきになった。
遠く部落発祥以来粒々辛苦子孫の為にと築いてきた、墳墓の地、伝統。文化すべて永劫ダムの湖底に没する運命となり、住民は追懐惜別の情胸奥に秘め生活基盤を開拓すべくそれぞれ移住離散し、下岩生子部落の歴史を聞じたのであります。
「この地に眠れる諸霊の安らかな冥福をー・合唱」
茲に在住者の為を刻み永く子孫に伝え古里を偲ぶ心の絆として、この噂を建立する。
昭和四十七年十月三十日
伊藤譲記
Route Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1_6tYWFpsJ8nAqphwTLEX3SKkpVvrWQI&usp=sharing
Date: 6th June 2025
Weather: 28 / 25 °C Broken clouds.
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