Shimanto River

View of the River

The Shimanto (Japanese四万 十 川, Shimanto- gawa, dt: " Vierzigtausendundzehn River " ) is the longest river on the Japanese island of Shikoku and is at the same time as the most beautiful river in Japan.

The Shimanto rises in the prefecture Kōchi at Mount Irazu and ends after a length of 196 kilometers in the Tosa Bay in the Pacific. Unlike other Japanese rivers it is natural and flows freely into the sea without being interrupted by artificial reservoirs. As it flows through sparsely populated and industrially developed area, it is very clean and is also in Japan " last clear stream of Japan " ( Nihon saigo no Seiryu日本 最後 の 清流) called.

Used to be fishing ( eels) and river algae harvesting significant, the river plays today for recreational activities such as kayaking a greater role.