old river; former river
Refers to a river that existed in the past, often a dried-up or altered watercourse. Can also appear in place names.
この辺りは昔、古川が流れていたらしい。
It seems an old river used to flow around here long ago.
Standard kanji spelling for 'old river'.
Variant kanji spelling; 河 is a less common character for 'river' in modern Japanese.
Compound of 古 (old) and 川 (river).