Tama river crossing

Thirty-nine crossings were built in the Tama River basin from upstream to downstream. The ferry was a transportation route connecting both sides of the river, and played an important role for the people of the river basin, such as transporting people and goods, and moving to cultivation fields. Four ferry terminals were built in Inagi City. From upstream, there are four locations: Koremasa ferry, Tsunehisa riverside ferry, Oshidate ferry, and Yanoguchi ferry. It is currently unclear when these ferry crossings connecting Inagi and Chofu/Fuchu were established, but they were probably built from the end of the Middle Ages to the early modern period. In particular, Koremasa and Oshidate are mentioned in the Chofu Tamagawa Sogazu (Chofu Tamagawa Sogazu) from the middle of the Edo period, and were a ferry that had been established since ancient times. After the opening of the Tamagawara Bridge, the Yanoguchi ferry was merged with the Shimosuge ferry, and the name was changed to Suga no Watari, which continued until 1972. The three locations, Koremasa, Oshidate, and Yanoguchi, were permanent crossings, and the Tsuneku River was a farm crossing to go to the cultivation field on the opposite bank.

Normal ferry crossings were operated by large ships transporting horse-drawn carriages and carts, and smaller ships transporting people, bicycles, luggage, etc. Large ships are called umabune or obune, and are 6 to 8 meters in length (approximately 10.9 to 14.5 meters), and small boats are called tenmasu, which are long. It was 5 and a half ken (approximately 9.1 meters to 10 meters) in size. The large horse boat was also loaded with 2-ton trucks for transporting agricultural equipment, and the amount carried was considerable. The city's ferry terminals were abolished one after another in the 1930s due to the construction of Koremasa Bridge and Tamagawara Bridge.