3. Toyosawagawa (Iwate)

Photographer’s comments: The upper reaches of this river are the setting for Miyazawa Kenji’s story “The Bears of Nametoko.” The river and its surroundings were no doubt in the writer’s mind when he wrote about an ideal world where people and animals live in harmony.

River data: Merges with the Kitakamigawa at the city of Hanamaki. The river is a popular recreation spot, offering mountain trout fishing and some excellent riverside hot spring resorts. Length: 30 km.