Tama

Tama stretches across western Musashi along the river of the same name. As Edo grew, the shogunate sought a dependable water supply from the river. In 1653 workers cut the Tamagawa aqueduct from an intake at Hamura across the Musashino plateau to Yotsuya, some forty-three kilometres away. Water then entered pipes serving the city, while branches supplied villages along the route. The channel tied the life of the expanding capital to the river upstream.