Kintai-kyo

The Kintai-kyo bridge in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is one of the finest three bridges of Japan, together with the Shinkyo bridge in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture and Saruhashi bridge in Otsuki, Yamanashi Prefecture, all of them built in places of amazing natural beauty.

The river crossed by Kintai-kyo is the 200-meters-wide Nishiki, the longest river din Yamaguchi Prefecture. To control its power there are now 3 dams upstream, and a 4th dam is under construction. However, during the Edo period the bridge was unprotected, so it was destroyed by flooding 3 times until now.

Last time Kintai-kyo was rebuilt 65 years ago, by using the original design and construction techniques. An interesting fact is that the metal nails are made from the same iron used to made the Japanese swords.