Another Reason I like Hiroshima
Hiroshima and Iwakuni
I really enjoyed Shukkeien on my first visit to Hiroshima so I knew I’d want to come back. This time, instead of Spring it was Autumn and the colours on the smoother glassy water made for brilliant reflections. This is one of my favourite Japanese gardens mainly because it has a string of three bridges along one side of the pond but also because each point around the pond is a unique view.
After a few weeks of being in somewhat less visited cities, it was a little jarring to be back in a city with so many foreign tourists. It seems that tourisim won’t be a problem and what is currently a trickle will soon return to a flood by spring.
After the garden I went to Okonomimura which is a building filled with Okonomiyaki booths. I was a little surprised that half of the booths were closed because the last time I was here it was quite busy but that might be because it was the middle of the afternoon. Even though there were english menus I ordered in Japanese. It was delicious and I was surprised there weren’t more tourists, especially when I walked by a shop beside the Atomic bomb dome and there was a crowd of foreign tourists waiting outside. I know it’s closer to the tourist attractions, but I mean Okonomimura is only like a 10 minute walk away.
The Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park has one of my favourite memorial halls and I was keen to visit it and document it architecturally. As well, I wanted to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum which was designed by Tange Kenzo that I hadn’t been to before.
The memorail hall and museum were quite emotionally draining so the next day I went to Iwakuni which was also on my long-time hit list. The Kintai Bridge might be one of the most significant unknown engineering marvels in the country. First constructed in 1673, it is considered to be the only timber arch bridge of its kind not only in Japan but also in the world.
What’s structurally interesting about the bridge is that the girders are made of built-up members stacked together. But not all of the timbers are of the same species. The girders are a combination of Zelkova and Pine clamped together with iron staples and dowels while the floorboards and railings are Japanese Cypress. Various other details known to master carpenters that were passed down from generation to generation with each maintenance rebuilding enabled the bridge to exist is similar to how temple carpentry knowledge is continued but less common because of the fewer bridges.
It cost a few dollars to cross the bridge and with a combined ticket it’s possible to take a ropeway up to a reconstructed Iwakuni castle which has a panoramic view of the city. I also visited a few parks and museums in the town but the main attraction was definately the bridge.
