Kuwabara

Kuwabara was a district of Osumi in southern Kyushu. Its historical landscape included Tomikuma, where Shimazu Yoshihisa established a residence after withdrawing from the centre of Shimazu government. He lived at Tomikuma Castle from 1595 until 1604. The residence linked this part of the district to the later life of the lord who had led the Shimazu during their expansion across Kyushu.

In the early eighteenth century, waterworks transformed another part of the local landscape. Construction of the Miyauchi-baru irrigation channel began in 1711 under Kawaminami Moritsune and was completed in 1716. Its waters passed through the Nishikokubu area toward farmland in several directions. A commemorative stone erected in 1717 recorded the work at the intake. The monument names Osumi's Kuwabara district and Nishikokubu, preserving the administrative setting of an irrigation project as well as the memory of its completion.