MAOUDC: The Underground Temple Beneath Kasukabe

The columns support not just the ceiling but the earth beneath a sports ground above it. There is something pleasing about all this subterranean grandeur helping to keep a playing field flat.

Even keeping the tank underground required some thought. Groundwater exerts upward pressure on the structure, so the engineers made its concrete slabs thicker to provide enough weight to resist it. The solution to floating, it turns out, was more concrete.

All of this exists because of the land around it. The basin of the Naka and Ayase rivers is low and nearly flat, hemmed in by larger rivers including the Arakawa, the Tone and the Edo. Officials compare it to the bottom of a dish. A dish is an excellent shape for holding liquid. That is the problem.

When the basin’s smaller rivers rise, the excess is sent into a 6.3-kilometre tunnel, 50 metres beneath National Route 16, linking five enormous shafts.

Beyond the columns, a red maintenance staircase offered a glimpse of how far the engineering continued.

It reminded me of Made in Abyss, the manga and anime set around a vast chasm whose depths become increasingly dangerous to return from. Not the most reassuring association to bring on a guided tour.

The hole drew my gaze downwards while the rest of my body strongly preferred to stay away from the edge. Unfortunately, it was also extremely photogenic.

I was attached to a safety harness. My electronics were not. Holding a camera above that drop produced a very specific kind of anxiety. Gravity began to feel personally interested in my possessions.