Bridge Out

Saturday, April 12, 2025

I spent days - literally - working on my blog post for April 11. It was very hard to write and I had to do a lot of research in order to make sense of all the information I had. I also had a lot of photos. Well, I think some of you can guess what happened. The app didn’t do what I expected it to do, and somehow my nearly complete draft was irretrievably lost. The only thing I can do is re-write it. I am not in the mood to do that right now, so I will skip ahead to the next day.

We left Nagasaki and rode to Iwakuni by means of three trains and a taxi.

IIwakuni is a smallish town (127,000) near Hiroshima. It lies in a pretty valley with a wide river, the Nishiki River, running through it. The thing that puts Iwakuni on the tourist map is one of the bridges over the river.

The Kintaikyo Bridge was built in 1673 without metal nails. (It has bamboo nails.) The 3rd lord of Iwakuni domain designed and built the bridge because previous bridges got washed away every time the river flooded. The bridge lasted from 1673 until 1950 when a mega-typhoon struck the area. It was reconstructed in 1953 and in 2001-2003.

The bridge is 210 meters long along the arches, and 193.3 meters long in a straight line. It is 5 meters wide.

It costs ¥310 to walk across the bridge and the ticket is good for a round trip (around $2 US).

We are staying at Shiratame Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn.

Our ryokan is literally across the street from Kintaikyo, and our room faces the bridge. Here is a photo taken from our room. I cannot enlarge it because all you will see is the window screen.

Can you see a white building on top of the mountain? That is Iwakuni Castle. Ken took a photo of it from the street with his zoom lens.

There is a ropeway that goes up to the castle from a point across the river, but we did not take the opportunity to go up. I do not like those kinds of rides.

Part of the experience of staying in a ryokan is the kaiseki-style dinner you get. It is quite an experience. You can sample local seasonal foods and eat things you will not see in most restaurants. Our server told us what most of these dishes were, but there was no written menu, and I have forgotten some of them.

An ark shell

Soup with clams, bamboo shoots, and a mystery vegetable, garnished with bracken, a type of fern

Shrimp, beef, and charred edamame

Sashimi (raw fish) - sea bream, I think - with mysterious powders

Conch

Scallops and vegetables cooked at the table over a small stove

See below

The wormy looking things are very tiny immature fish called, collectively, “whitebait.” Those little black dots are their eyes.

Strawberries, asparagus, and a slimy sauce, possibly made of algae

Dayenu.

Happy Passover to those who celebrate.

Today’s fabric is “Art Deco Moon Bridge Garden” by vinpauld for Spoonflower.