Numerous sluices have been built on the Hanami to protect the surrounding area from damage due to high tides and typhoons.

The Hanami River was developed as a canal in the 18th century to connect the Tone River to Tokyo Bay, control flooding in the Inbanuma marsh area, and facilitate the construction of new rice paddy areas in Shimōsa Province.

The first attempt at building a canal was in 1724, but funds provided by the Tokugawa shogunate to the chief of Hirato Village, now part of Yachiyo, dried up and the project was abandoned.

Within two years shallow riverboats carried rice and sweet potatoes from the Tone River area to Kemigawa Harbor, and in turn returned fertilizer up the canal to agricultural areas in its upper reaches of the Hanami.

It is not yet complete and unpaved portions remain in Kashiwaimachi in Ichikawa and Yokoto in Chiba City.