Miboro Dam

Miboro Dam (御母衣ダム, Miboro damu) is a dam on the Shō River in Shirakawa, in Gifu Prefecture Japan. It supports a 256 MW hydroelectric power station. Of the nine dams on the Shō River, it is the furthest upstream.^[1][2]

Miboro Dam
Location	Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
Purpose	Power
Status	Operational
Construction began	1957
Opening date	1961
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Embankment, rock-fill
Impounds	Shō River
Height	131 m (430 ft)
Length	405 m (1,329 ft)
Elevation at crest	766 m (2,513 ft)
Width (crest)	12 m (39 ft)
Width (base)	560 m (1,840 ft)
Dam volume	7,950,000 m3 (10,400,000 cu yd)
Spillways	3
Spillway type	1 x roller gate, 1 x drum gate, lower discharge tunnel
Reservoir
Total capacity	370,000,000 m3 (300,000 acre⋅ft)
Active capacity	330,000,000 m3 (270,000 acre⋅ft)
Catchment area	442.8 km2 (171.0 sq mi)
Surface area	8.8 km2 (3.4 sq mi)
Normal elevation	760 m (2,490 ft)
Power Station
Operator(s)	Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc.
Commission date	January/May 1961
Hydraulic head	192.1 m (630 ft)
Turbines	2 x 128 MW Francis-type
Installed capacity	256 MW

The dam flooded several villages and shrines, submerging them completely, two cherry trees were taken from one of the submerged shrines and placed in Shirakawa-go where it is said that each petal represents a memory from someone who lived in the villages before they were flooded.^[3]

Over 200 houses were to be submerged, including Minka houses, and about 1,200 people were forced to relocate, so the residents of the planned submerged area violently opposed the dam construction plan. In 1961, all structures were submerged and the dam was completed.