Sakai River (Tokyo, Kanagawa)

The Sakai River (境川, Sakai-gawa) is a Class B river in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture which flows into the Bay of Sagami of the Pacific Ocean.

It starts from Aihara-machi (Japanese: 相原町), Machida, Tokyo, to Katase, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, near Enoshima Island.

[1] As the Sakai River and its tributaries are prone to flooding (especially in spring and during the typhoon season), as a protection they were encased in concrete during the postwar period.

The rivers continue to flood, but do not overflow their banks as frequently as in the past.

The river often used to be called the Takakura River (Japanese: 高座川) because it flowed through Kōza District, Kanagawa (Japanese: 高座郡), the Kun'yomi reading of the two "Kōza" Kanji characters being Takakura.

The Sakai River from the Negishi Bridge, Sagamihara , Kanagawa
A view from Enoshima Lighthouse shows the Sakai River flowing into Sagami Bay between Sakai Fishing Port (left) and the Enoshima Benten Bridge (center).
" Fujisawa-shuku " in Hiroshige 's Ukiyo-e series, " The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō ", shows the Daigiri Bridge (now called the Yugyō-ji Bridge) over the Sakai River, with Enoshima in the back.