Kintai-kyo

=Kintai-kyo= By: Ben Trouvais

History
Kintai-kyo, also known as Sash Bridge, is a arched, wooden bridge that spans the Nishiki River in Iwakuni, Japan. The bridge was built as part of a larger collection of bridges spanning the river after the construction of the Iwakuni Castle finished in 1601. The bridge itself, however, wasn't built untill 1673. A year after its completion, a large flood occured, causing the bridge to literally float down the river. As a result, they rebuilt the bridge with better supports and created a tax to fund the restoration and upkeep of the bridge. This taxing and restoration process continued to work for the next 300 years. In 1950, however, the bridge once again was lifted from its supports, due to flooding from Typhoon Kijia, and it too, just like its 1600's counterpart, floated down the river. Historians believe the bridge defense system had failed, because Japan neglected the tax fund in order to pay for the war effort during World War II. Also, gravel was used around the supports of the bridge to create a U.S. Military Air Base in Iwakuni. All of these factors led to the modern design of the bridge which still stands today.

Architecture
For the past 300 years or so, the bridge has maintained its basic design. The bridge is composed of five arches, three larger ones in the center of the bridge, and two smaller ones, one on either end. When the bridge had orriginally been constructed, no metal nails were used. All of the wooden pieces had fit together perfectly. On some parts of the bridge, however, metalic belt joints were used to clamp pieces together, especially in the corners. After all that was said and done, some important parts of the bridge were covered in a sheet of copper, mainly for strength but also for attraction purposes. The supports of the bridge are made of stone, much like the way stone is used in making European castle walls. These supports dig into the riverbed, where they keep the entire bridge from washing downstream. The walking platform on the bridge is actually not connected to the bridge itself. The platform sort of sits atop the bridge, without any brackets, nails, or other connecting device. This particular design was chosen so that, in case of another flood, the platform could wash away without taking the rest of the bridge with it.

The Bridge Today
Today, the bridge looks very similar to how it did back in 1673. All of the same basic architectual components are still there, except for the fact that nails were added. The bridge was designated a Nation Treasure in 1922. The bridge and the neighboring Iwakuni castle is one of the most visited tourist attractions in all of Japan, mainly due to the Cherry Blossom festival in spring and the color changing of the Japanese Maples in the area in autumn.