Kinokawa 紀ノ川

Kinokawa, an icon of Wakayama running through the northern part of the city, flows some 130km from the pristine mountain range of Odaigahara, Nara to the Wakayama Bay. Nara section of Kinokawa is called Yoshino-gawa. Small branches of Kinokawa, Wakagawa, Wadagawa, provide attractive canals in the city center. Kinokawa, like many other rivers around the world, is not only the valuable water source but also provides the community a place of everyday living - farming, transport, recreation. Crossing the Kitajima Bridge in the morning, we can see early workers attending their vegetable fields on the wide riverbeds, joggers and cyclists.

A local writer Ariyoshi Sawako (1931-84) wrote "Kinokawa" (1959), a novel dipicting the life of women of a Wakayama family over three generations. Ariyoshi wrote a number of historical novels, centering around women's life but also books on social justice, one of the most well known "Fukugo Osen (Multiple pollution, 1975)". The book, that questioned the heavy use of pestcides and other chemicals, raised further environmental concerns following the cases of four major enviornmental diseases (Yokkaichi, Itai Itai, Minamata) that occurred during 50s-70s. Fukugo-osen, in this sense, is Japan's "Silent Spring" (Rachel Carson, 1962). Ariyoshi also wrote widely on issues such as racial descrimination, ageing, gender and religion.