Shimada Bridge

Shimada Bridge, a sunken bridge 77 meters long and 3 meters wide, is located on the Echibe River between Shimada, Sakado City and Miyahana, Higashimatsuyama City.

This bridge was the location of the Kawagoe-Kodama Oukan during the Edo period and was passed by ferry (Shimada no Ferry).

In the Meiji period (1868-1912), a wooden bridge was built, and the present bridge is also made of wood. For this reason, it is sometimes used as a filming location for period dramas.

Shimada Bridge is a submerged bridge (also called a submerged bridge, the bridge surface goes under water during floods) on Sakado City Road 2343 over the Koshibe River.

It is used as a daily life road and a way out of both Sakado and Higashimatsuyama, and is located approximately 8.6 km from the end of the Koshibe River.

The bridge is approximately 77 meters long and 3 meters wide. The bridge has eight wooden piers and consists of nine spans.

There is an independent wooden driftwood avoidance structure on the upstream side. The bridge has a wooden floor and no parapets.

The current bridge has various traffic restrictions, with a width limit of 1.8 meters and entry restriction poles at both entrances to the bridge. The weight limit is 1.5 tons.

Although the bridge is made of wood, it is open to vehicular traffic. However, due to its narrow width, traffic alternates from one side to the other. The Shimada Bridge is managed by Sakado City. Because it is a flood bridge, it is sometimes closed to traffic during typhoons and other heavy rains.

The Shimada Bridge is characterized by the fact that it is almost entirely made of wood and the road surface is boarded up. As a result, it has long maintained its old-fashioned atmosphere and rustic appearance.

In addition, because of its easy accessibility from central Tokyo, the bridge is often used for location shooting for TV and movies.

Films that have been shot on location using this bridge include NHK’s historical dramas such as “Shobu ga Gotoku,” “Shin-Sen-Gumi! Ryomaden (the 28th episode, “Takeichi’s Dream”), TV Asahi’s “Kikujiro and Saki,” NHK’s “Kagero no Tsuji 2,” TBS’s “JIN,” and Shochiku films such as “Bakumatsu Junjo Den,” “Maboroshi no Yamataikoku,” and “Saya Samurai.

This bridge is located between Ishiijuku (present-day Sakado City) and Takasakajuku (present-day Higashimatsuyama City), where the Kawagoe-Kodama Oukan used to run during the Edo period.

Beyond this point, the Nikko Waka Oukan joined at the Sakashita Bridge before the Takasaka-juku inn, and this bridge was used as a transportation route to Nikko. Until the early Meiji period (1868-1912), no bridge was built at this location and ferry boats were used for communication. However, a wooden bridge was built in the early Meiji period (1868-1912), facilitating communication between the two banks of the Koshibe River.

On the other hand, there used to be a bridge on the Nikko Waki Oukan (Nikko side road) about 900 meters upstream of the Shimada Bridge, but due to the construction of the Tojo Railway, the location overlapped with the railroad bridge, so a new Takasaka Bridge (the current bridge on National Route 407) was constructed in 1920.

As a result, the distance from Shimada Bridge to Takasaka Bridge was only about 600 meters, so the communication between the two bridges was moved to Takasaka Bridge. Because of this location, the Shimada Bridge remained wooden and was not permitted to be replaced with a steel or concrete bridge.

The Shimada Bridge has been replaced or repaired many times due to washouts caused by rising water and deterioration of the wood. For example, the bridge was washed away by Typhoon No. 22 in 1958, and the bridge that was replaced after being washed away by a typhoon in 1994 was washed away again by heavy rains in 2014.

The bridge was considered to be rebuilt in concrete or steel or even abolished, but thanks to the voices of local residents and the efforts of the local neighborhood association president, prefectural assembly members, and the city tourism association, it was restored to its original form at a cost of approximately 68 million yen and reopened to traffic in 2015.