※This article was published at December 2014.※
There is a wooden bridge called the Kintai Bridge located in Iwakuni City in the eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture.
It features five beautiful wooden arches that really make it a scenic beauty worthy of being counted among Japan’s top three bridges.
This bridge with a total length of 193 meters and a width of five meters was first built in 1673.
While the original bridge has unfortunately been washed away, the bridge still survives until today after undergoing many repairs.
The bridge has been reconstructed many times, and sections that had become deteriorated were recently reconstructed from 2002 to 2004.
It is also said that a survey of the bridge’s soundness has been conducted every five years since 1958.
The purpose of these surveys has been to check the strength of the bridge.
The most recent survey in September 2014 that checked the flexure of the bridge was conducted by a university research team with the cooperation of 120 high school students that had a total weight of 6 tons.
Once you actually walk across the bridge, you will notice that it much more sloped than it first appears.
The slopes are so high that once you come to a high point of an arch, the next arch almost disappears from your field of view.
In addition to walking across the bridge, we also recommend that you walk down to the riverbed and look up at the bridge from below.
The timberwork under the arches is really beautiful from this perspective.
Sights nearby the Kintai Bridge include the Iwakuni Castle and places where you can see the famous white snakes, which are symbols of good luck.
In contrast to sightseeing in a big city, we are sure that you will enjoy a more relaxed style of sightseeing in this area.
There have been events including symposiums recently concerning Kintai Bridge aimed at getting it registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Why not make a visit to this beautiful bridge that may become a UNESCO World Heritage Site sometime in the future?
Information
Official website:
(Japanese/English) http://kintaikyo.iwakuni-city.net/en/
Business hours: 8:00-17:00 (while the bridge can be crossed 24-hours a day, the lights are turned off after 22:00.
Please put the entrance fee in the nighttime fare box when using the bridge at night.
Regular holidays: There are no holidays, the bridge can be crossed 24-hours a day.
Note that the lights are turned off after 22:00.
Please put the entrance fee in the nighttime fare box when using the bridge at night.
Access: by bus from Iwakuni Station
Entrance fee: 300 yen for adults and junior high school students and above, 100 yen for elementary school students
Map
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