SABO technology in European countries in the period around 1900 by referring to Moroto’s footprint during his study in Europe

Haruo NISHIMOTO

Abstract

The first laboratory of SABO in Japan was established at the University of Tokyo in 1900. In the incipient period of this laboratory (1901－1909), two foreign teachers were invited to lecture on SABO. In 1912, Kitao MOROTO became the first professor as Japanese in charge of this laboratory. MOROTO studied SABO under F. WANG in Vienna, Austria from 1909－1912. He not only studied in Vienna but also visited many places where SABO projects were executed in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Czech, Poland, Croatia and Montenegro. Through these studies and field trips, he gained much theoretical and technological knowledge concerning SABO. He wrote many ariticles about his studies and field trips and brought back many photos of SABO facilities in European counries to Japan. After coming back to Japan, he wrote a series of technological books and introduced new technologies of SABO in Europe to Japan. In recent several years, author visited many sites maily where MOROTO had visited and remained many photos of SABO facilities constructed during several decades before and after 1900 and surveyed these SABO facilities. In European coutries, the downside slope of check dam had already been steep in those days, although in Japan it had been gentle till 1920 s. Also the way of piling stones for check dam in European countries was different from that in Japan. In this paper the present situation and features of these facilities are described too. This paper will contribute toward studying about structural maintenance and effectual utilization of old SABO facilities in Japan.

Key words

European SABO technology, Old SABO facility, Check dam, Kitao MOROTO