Originally, this Japanese bridge was made of wood, only connecting Muromachi-Teemo and Yi Tong-Teemo streets. This wooden bridge was once destroyed by fire, and in the following hundreds of years, generations have repaired and rebuilt it. 19 1 1 year (Meiji 44) was rebuilt into a granite double-arch stone bridge. The last reconstruction project of Japan Bridge was completed in 1999 (Heisei 1 1). This is the 19 generation Japanese bridge, which has been listed as an important national cultural property of Japan.
Many ukiyo-e paintings handed down from the Edo period are Japanese bridges and Mount Fuji. However, like other famous places where Mount Fuji is seen, with the development of modern society, the sight is gradually blocked by high-rise buildings, and the scene of seeing Mount Fuji from a distance on the Japanese bridge no longer exists. Moreover, during the period of high economic development in19th century, the Capital Expressway built in 1963 (Showa 38) for hosting the Tokyo Olympic Games was just above the Japanese Bridge. Looking up from the Japanese bridge, even the sky is hard to see. Therefore, residents living near the Japanese Bridge put forward the idea of changing the expressway to pass through the underground, thus restoring the landscape of the old Japanese Bridge. Although Junichiro Koizumi, former Japanese Prime Minister, expressed support for this, Shintaro Ishihara, the governor, opposed it. The project budget as high as 500 billion yen has caused the contradiction between urban landscape construction and administrative problems. When designing the Japanese Bridge, Huang Mulai, the wife of a leading architectural figure at that time, served as an architectural consultant. He proposed a design scheme combining bronze materials with western architectural styles. As we all know, bronze is a common material for ancient ritual vessels in China. However, there are no large bronze sculptures in Japan except the bronze products of Kamakura era (Kamakura Buddha). The proposal of using bronze as the material clearly reflects the influence of European bronze sculpture art, in addition, it also shows a strong European style from the design and overall modeling of the bridge. This Meiji-era building seems to truly represent Japan's strategic thinking of leaving Asia for Europe.
However, there are many contradictions in Japan that do not allow us to make such a simple analysis of him. Although the large sculptures on the bridge are bronze sculptures, the themes are Kirin and Tang lion. Kirin is a legendary beast introduced to Japan from China. With the passage of time, it has successfully integrated into and become a part of Japanese culture. Kirin in Meiji era no longer has Tang flavor, but has become a symbol of Japanese culture that can be opposed to western culture. However, unicorns have no wings, but the bronze unicorns in Japan Bridge have wings, like winged Persian beasts. As mentioned in the novel Wings of Kirin, these wings are endowed with symbolic significance of Japan's take-off in Meiji era. In addition, the bronze unicorn's sitting posture is similar to that of Xilong, which is also a major attraction of this bridge.
The lion statues located at both ends of the bridge were originally sculpted with reference to dogs (Tang dogs, poodles, imported from Chinese mainland in peacetime) in Hachiba Palace in Nara. But lions in the East have no shields. At that time, Mrs. Mu combined the European lion statue with the traditional Tang lion image, and designed and completed the lion statues that now stand at both ends of the bridge. The shield held by the lion became the symbol of Tokyo's capital. Such a modern representative building, which combines eastern culture and western culture, is enough for visitors to experience the glory of the Lumingguan era after the Meiji Restoration and the era of actively introducing western culture. According to the pre-war highway law, all cities, towns and villages in Japan should set up road signs at the starting point of roads. The location of road signs is generally the location of government agencies such as municipal government and county government. Tokyo, as the capital, inherited the practice of the Edo era and took the Japanese Bridge as the road sign of Tokyo. Although there is no provision on road symbols in the current highway law in Japan, there is still a written sign of "Japanese road symbol" in the center of the Japanese bridge, and there are replicas on both sides of the bridge. There are seven national highways from Japan Bridge:
National Highway 1 (Terminal: Osaka)
National Highway 4 (Terminal: Aomori)
National Highway 6 (Terminal: Sendai)
National Highway 14 (Terminal: Chiba City)
National Highway 15 (Terminal: Yokohama)
National Highway 17 (Terminal: Niigata City)
National Highway 20 (Terminal: Yanqi City)
(Note: Of these seven national highways, only 1 National Highway and National Highway 4 actually start from Japan Bridge, and other roads are duplicate sections of these two national highways. )
As early as the edo period, there were rows of shops on both sides of the ancient road starting from Japan Bridge. With the development of modern society, famous department stores such as Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya also gather near Japan Bridge. 19th generation Japanese Bridge was designated as an important national cultural property (building) in Japan on1May 1999 (Heisei 1 1). Japan Bridge, together with Golden Belt Bridge in Yamaguchi Prefecture and Eye Bridge in Nagasaki Prefecture, is called "Three Famous Bridges in Japan".
However, with the pace of road construction in Japan's capital, the ancient landscape of Japanese bridges has been covered by modern roads. In February 2005 (Heisei 17), in the activity of "Creating Beautiful Landscape" represented by Professor Itoko of Waseda University, Japan Bridge was selected as "100 Poor Landscape". However, Arataro Fifty, an assistant professor at Northeastern University, objected to this selection with the view that "the Capital Expressway, which symbolizes the high development of Japanese civil technology, has more historical value than the Japanese Bridge". The fish bank near the Japanese bridge and the bridge on the left side of the Japanese bridge used to be markets for selling fish. When Tokugawa Ieyasu entered the government, there was a fish market there. More than 30 fishermen came here together, and they sold the fish left over from the tribute here. That is, since then, the fish market in Japan Bridge has been widely known.
It is difficult to accurately convert the ancient Japanese currency into the current value. However, some data show that in ancient Japan, 1 Liang = 4000 Liang. At that time, the daily salary of carpenters was 86 Liang. If this is taken into account, it is about 1 two = 200,000 yen. The fish market operates for 250 days a year, and the total value exceeds 1500 yen. Imagine this figure, and you can know how the fish market in Nijo Castle, Japan has influenced the Japanese food culture in the Edo period.