Following the Uetsu flood disaster, construction of the Shirakawa Dam was completed in 1981 for flood control and irrigation purposes. The man-made lake that was formed due to the construction of the dam was named Shirakawa Lake. Many of the cultures rooted in the region disappeared due to the completion of the dam, but before the Jomon period, it is believed that the entire Nakatsugawa region was submerged under a lake known as the “Kyu (former) Nakatsugawa Lake.” The landscape of the present-day Shirakawa Lake is said to resemble the appearance of Nakatsugawa before humans built a town on this land.