Kameoka Basin (亀岡盆地)
Kameoka Basin is located around Kameoka City, Kyoto Prefecture; the local population, industry and commerce are concentrated along National Route 9, the main artery of this area. Its main industry centers around agriculture, specifically good rice grown in rice paddies thanks to abundant ground water.
One side of the basin is limited by a fault, and the Katsura-gawa River (Yodo-gawa River system) traverses the central part of the basin, but, since the ground of the southern part where the urban area is located is comparatively low, the urban area of Kameoka City is flooded easily when the river water increases. Devastating floods no longer occur due to the construction of the Hiyoshi Dam.
Due to the Atago-yama mountain range towering from the northeastern part to the northern part of Kameoka Basin, fog often rises in Kameoka Basin in winter.
For reference's sake, National Route 372 goes to Tanba Highland through Yunohana-onsen (Kyoto Prefecture) known as a natural hot spring resort.
It is said that, because long ago Kameoka Basin was a big lake with beautiful, vermillion waves caused by wind, this area was called 丹のうみ(Ni-no-umi; umi means a lake in English) or 丹波(Tanba; 波 means waves in English); others say that Okuninushi-no-mikoto who is a famous god appearing in the Izumo Shinwa (Myths of Izumo) carved a valley between Kameoka and Arashiyama, and made the water flow, forming land by reclamation, and named the carved valley 'Hozu-gawa River and Hozu-kyo Gorge' after 'Mihotsu-hime,' goddess in the position of wife of Okuninushi-no-mikoto; in fact, a fault has been found that shows that Kameoka Basin used to be a lake.