Mamagawa River is famous for many cherry trees planted along it and people living in Ichikawa love to walk along it and to see the cherry
blossoms in spring. Especially, from the Route 14th near the fire department
to Showa Gakuin, many cherry trees are planted, and several thousands of
people come and walk along the river to see the cherry blossoms. And there
are many cherry trees planted on the other places along the river and the
neighbors enjoy seeing them. Moreover, there are several special Sakura
spots along Mamagawa River. Tekona Reishindo Hall and Mamasan Guhoji Temple, Suwada Park, Ukishima Benzaiten Shrine and Sakura Dote Park, Shirahata Jinja Shrine, Oogashiwagawa River, Colton Plaza and Barakisan Myogyoji Temple are all famous for having some beautiful cherry trees in their site. And visitors could see many pear blossoms in some pear gardens along it. In fall, many red spider lilies blooms on the bank of Mamagawa River.
Mamagawa River is very exciting place to walk along. Why don't you visit it?
The Mama-gawa River rises in the 30 meter heights of the Shimousa Plateau in the northern west part of Chiba Prefecture, so it collects
rainwater through Matsudo City, Kamagaya City and Funabashi City and carries it to the Tokyo Bay in the bay area of Ichikawa City. From Matsudo to northern part of Ichikawa, the Mama-gawa River is divided
into two flows, one is called 'Haruki-gawa River', and another one is 'Kokubun-gawa
River'. From Kamagaya to eastern part of Ichikawa, it is called 'Ogashiwa-gawa
River'. They join together in Ichikawa and become the Mama-gawa River,
then it goes to the Tokyo Bay
The size of Mama-gawa River's catchment is about 65.6 square meters, over
a million people live along the river, so it is deeply related to their
lives since long time ago. The Mama-gawa River appears in 'Manyo-shu',
the Collection Of Ten Thousand Leaves, so it appears such as 'Mama-no-irie'
(the cove at Mama) in the legend of Tekona (the story of the beautiful
girl in ancient ages).
There are some wonderful spots along the Mama-gawa River, Tekona-Reido
Hall, Gubo-ji Temple, Colton Plaza of the shopping mole and Myoko-ji Temple
are famous. And the Ichikawa Citizen Swimming Pool is along the Ogashiwa-gawa
River. Over several hundreds of cherry trees are planted to cultivated
along the river, therefore thousands of visitors come while cherry blossoms
are blooming.
The name 'Mama-gawa' might be a corruption of 'Meme' in the ancient eastern
Japanese language. 'Meme' means collapsed land. 'Mama' means a dip, a cove,
a slope, a cliff and a point of land where bank collapsed, its meaning
is very similar to the meaning of 'Meme'. Therefore, there are many places
having the word 'Mama' in their names throughout Japan.
The Photo Movie of Cherry Blossoms along Mamagawa River in 2020
The Photo Movie of Cherry Blossoms along Mamagawa River in 2019
The Mama-gawa River has a great accessibility from both Narita and Haneda International Airport.
From Narita International Airport, take Keisei-line and get off Keisei-Onigoe Sta, take minimally 45 minutes from Narita Airport. And also take JR Sobu-express line, transfer the line at Funabashi to Keisei-line, get off Keisei-Onigoe Sta.
From Haneda International Airport, take Keikyu-line bound to Narita, and get off Keisei-Onigoe Sta.
Take 2 minute walk from Keisei-Onigoe Sta.
Mamagawa River flows in the central part of Ichikawa-shi from the west to the south-east.
Myogyo-ji Temple was built in 1538, beautiful blossoms of its drooping
cherry tree in its garden and skillful sculptures on its temple gate are
very famous.