Sayama pond is Japan’s oldest dam-type artificial reservoir that was created in 616 during the Asuka period. This pond has 1,400 years of history irrigating the fields downstream. Previous renovation works to this pond had been handled by the Buddhist priests Gyoki during the Nara period and by Chogen during the Kamakura period, and by the warlord Katagiri Katsumoto during the Edo period. Nowadays, its role to secure water for agriculture has decreased and is primarily used now to prevent flooding downstream in the Nishiyoke-gawa river during heavy rain.
The Osaka Prefectural Sayamaike Museum opened in 2001 to highlight the 1,400 year-old history and civil engineering of Sayama pond. The museum has plenty of giant cultural properties that were transferred and/or on exhibit to see, such as the embankment of Sayama pond and the buried wooden water gutter that was used to send water to the fields. In addition, the innovative design of the museum was by Tadao Ando, one of the prominent architects of Japan.