Kintay-kyo

Before returning to Miyajima in the late afternoon I took a local train to Iwakuni. Here in Yamaguchi, the next prefecture and only 40 km distant from Hiroshima crosses one of the most famous bridges of Japan the river Nishiki. Although during my visit the river seemed to be picturesque and calm, its fast moving currents during rainstorms often swept the wooden bridges of old entirely away. After repeated trial and failures in 1673 the Kintay kyo was completed using highest engineering standards spanning 210 m of the river in 5 steep arches without using a single nail. Only in 1950 after years of negligence of adequate maintenance the "indestructible" bridge was swept away by floods caused by a typhoon. With great efforts the almost identically reconstructed bridge was reopened only three years later.

At one time only samurai were allowed to cross the elegantly formed "brocade sash" bridge. Nowadays by paying a small fee I could walk the up and downs of the high arches across the magnificent structure, so getting a feeling for times long gone by..