{"id":773,"date":"2019-01-16T17:02:17","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T08:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kintaikyo-bridge.jp\/?page_id=773"},"modified":"2025-12-02T15:06:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T06:06:56","slug":"overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/kintaikyo-bridge.jp\/en\/value\/overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Place of Scenic Beauty, Kintaikyo Bridge<\/h2>\n
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The Kintaikyo Bridge is a five-span bridge over the Nishiki River in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
\nCounted as one of Japan’s three most famous bridges, with abundant nature in its background, it has been designated as a national Place of Scenic Beauty (the area including upstream and downstream).
\nIt was constructed in 1673 through a manifestation of wisdom and skill, in the desire for a flood-proof bridge. That structure, crossing the river\u2019s width of around 200m, is exquisite and original. Furthermore, it boasts a beautiful shape.
\nIn approximately 350 years since its construction, the technology and beauty of the Kintaikyo Bridge continue to be protected even today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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History<\/h1>\n
\uff5eOver 350 Years of History\uff5e<\/div>\n

From the Warring States Period to Peacetime<\/h2>\n
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The Kikkawa Clan, who belonged to the Western Army the loser in the Battle of Sekigahara, was banished from Izumo Province area to Iwakuni, reducing their land value from 140,000 koku units to 30,000 koku. Times were still so tense that a war could break out at any moment. Hiroie Kikkawa, first lord, established his center of political affairs in Yokoyama. This was because the area\u2019s topology, intersected by the Nishiki River with mountains in the background, was advantageous in terms of defense.
\nA bridge was constructed early on, in order to connect the castle town segmented by the Nishiki River. However, the bridge was washed away every time the river flooded.
\nEventually, when the shogunate system came into place and a peaceful age arrived, the construction of a flood-proof bridge became the earnest wish of Iwakuni Domain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\u201cMap of the Inner Domain\u201d (1668)
\nThe area intersected by the Nishiki River, with Mount Shiroyama in the background was chosen as the residence of the feudal lord and some of his vassals, and the opposite riverbank was chosen for the dwellings of the remaining majority of vassals and the townspeople.
\nFrom the collection of Iwakuni Chokokan Museum<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Concept and Foundation of the Bridge<\/h2>\n
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Hiroyoshi Kikkawa, third lord, grappled with research on bridges, but a solution was not easily reached.
\nOne day, Hiroyoshi obtained a book on China\u2019s famed West Lake from the Ming Chinese monk and scholar Obaku Dokuryu. In this book was an illustration of a six-arched bridge connecting five small islands. It is said that this is how Hiroyoshi acquired the idea for the Kintaikyo Bridge.
\nThis concept was to build four piers in the Nishiki River and to connect them using five bridges. In order to achieve this, further research was repeatedly conducted in addition to the civil engineering and architectural techniques that were cultivated during the Warring States era.
\nThen in 1673, the concept and technology resulted in reality, as the Kintaikyo Bridge was built.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"Illustration for \u201cTravel Records of the West Lake\u201d
\nIt is said that Hiroyoshi acquired the idea for the Kintaikyo Bridge from a picture of a bridge that spanned the islands of the West Lake (China).
\nFrom the collection of Iwakuni Chokokan Museum
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Third Lord of Iwakuni
\nHiroyoshi Kikkawa
\uff081621\uff0d1679\uff09
\nConstructed the Kintaikyo Bridge.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A Bridge Across the Ages<\/h2>\n
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The year after its construction, the Kintaikyo Bridge was washed away due to collapse of its piers during a flood. However, restoration was immediately commenced, and the reconstruction work was completed within the year.
\nAfter this, the bridge supported the passage of people over many years, while undergoing frequent repair and reconstruction. It was swept away again in 1950 in a typhoon, but the townspeople worked in unison to achieve reconstruction.
\nIn this way, the Kintaikyo Bridge has spanned the ages, and even now continues to exist in the same shape in the same location.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\uff5e\u610f \u5320 Design\uff5e<\/div>\n

Twelve drawings, with the 1699 blueprints as the oldest, and full-sized \u201ctemplates\u201d from modern times onwards, are in existence. These serve as evidence that the design of the Kintaikyo Bridge has been passed down for more than three hundred years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\uff5e\u6750 \u6599 Material\uff5e<\/div>\n

Materials were selected in accordance with the properties, economic efficiency and procurement potential of timber, such as by using pine and zelkova as the main structural materials and rot-resistant woods such as Japanese cypress as decorative materials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\uff5e\u6280 \u8853 Workmanship\uff5e<\/div>\n

Even before the development of photography and filming, bridge-building technology was handed down through repeated drafting of drawings each time the bridge was rebuilt.
\nBecause of this, the Kintaikyo Bridge now exists in a shape unchanged from three hundred years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\uff5e\u4f4d \u7f6e Setting\uff5e<\/div>\n

Inspection of early modern archaic maps indicates that the setting of the Kintaikyo Bridge has not altered from history to the present day. Moreover, records of historical reconstruction also inform us that the bridge\u2019s location has remained unchanged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\u201cKintaikyo Bridge Reconstruction Plan\u201d (1699), the oldest extant drawing.
\nFrom the collection of Iwakuni Chokokan Museum<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Chronology of Kintaikyo Bridge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
1600 Keicho 5<\/th>\nBattle of Sekigahara
\nHiroie Kikkawa receives 30,000 koku of land in the Iwakuni vicinity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1664 Kanbun 4<\/th>\nHiroyoshi Kikkawa sees \u201cTravel Records of the West Lake\u201d, acquires the idea for the Kintaikyo Bridge<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1673 Enpo 1<\/th>\nThe Kintaikyo Bridge is constructed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1674 Enpo 2<\/th>\nWashed away by flooding
\nReconstruction<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1677 Enpo 5<\/th>\nRubble stones is strewn in the riverbed around the Kintaikyo Bridge, and the stone pavements are reinforced<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1699 Genroku 12<\/th>\nOldest extant plan is drawn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1871 Meiji 4<\/th>\nAbolition of the feudal system and establishment of prefectures<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1922 Taisho 11<\/th>\nDesignated a national Place of\u00a0Scenic Beauty<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1943 Showa 18<\/th>\nAdditionally designated a scenic area<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1950 Showa 25<\/th>\nThe Kintaikyo Bridge is swept away by Typhoon Kezia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1951 Showa 26<\/th>\nShowa Reconstruction commences (completed in 1953)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001 Heisei 13<\/th>\n\u201cHeisei no kakekae\u201d(reconstruction) commences (completed in 2004)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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\"\"The Kintaikyo Bridge in the Meiji-era.Photographed from the mountain downstream from the bridge. The townscape of Yokoyama is on the left. Dwellings were still positioned along the bank, but the Kintaikyo Bridge is in the same location as the present day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"1898 Meiji 31
Reconstruction<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"1950 Showa25
The Bridge is swept away by a typhoon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"2001 Heisei13
Reconstruction
Beam assembly<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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