That happened in 1890. As the Ashio Copper Mine's mining operations expanded, trees in the surrounding mountains began to die, and fish began to die one after another in the Watarase River, which had previously been a rich fishing ground for river fish. Today we understand that this is damage caused by sulfurous acid gas and cadmium, but at the time the cause was dismissed as unknown. Then, the first major flooding in 50 years occurred in the Watarase River basin. It was a natural disaster in the sense that it was caused by heavy rainfall, but it was clearly a man-made disaster in the sense that the forests that were supposed to serve as water reservoirs disappeared. Moreover,the floods,which originally brought fertile nutrients,contaminated the fields at this time. What destroyed the livelihood of the farmers? What is the solution? The farmers visited a local representative,Shozo Tanaka,and begged him to address the damage to agriculture and its causes in the Imperial Diet. Shozo was 50 years old at the time.
