Nagoya lies north of Ise Bay on the Nōbi Plain. The city was built on low-level plateaus to ward off water damage. The plain is one of the fertile lands of Japan, which allowed for the development of agriculture. The Kiso River flows to the west along the city border, the Shōnai River comes in from the northeast and takes a southern towards the bay at Nishi Ward. The man-made Hori River was constructed as a canal in the 1610 and flows from north to south, and is a part of the Shōnai River system. The rivers allowed for trade to develop with the hinterland. The Tempaku River feeds from a number of smaller river in the east, flows briefly south at Nonami and then west at Ōdaka into the bay.