Tsūjun Bridge, Stone aqueduct bridge in Yamato, Japan
Tsūjun Bridge is a stone aqueduct that spans 84 meters across a valley in Yamato. Three pipes embedded in the stone run parallel through the structure and move water using a siphon system that relies on gravity to carry the liquid over the arched spans.
Yasunosuke Futa, head of Yabe village, planned the aqueduct and secured funding from local and Hosokawa domain sources. Construction began in December 1852 and finished in August 1854, about one year and eight months, with the stonemason Uichi leading the stonework. The bridge and its channels created roughly 100 hectares of new rice paddies on the Shiraito Plateau.
The bridge was first called Fukiage-daimekan-bashi; Mano Gennosuke, a teacher at the Higo domain school Jishūkan, took the name Tsūjun from a passage of the I Ching. Near the bridge stands Futa Shrine, where villagers still worship Yasunosuke Futa, the headman who planned the aqueduct.
The top of the bridge can only be visited on water-release days, and only by registered visitors, with numbers limited. The release lasts about 15 minutes and is scheduled in the farmers' off-season. The bridge has no handrails. By bus, get off at Tsūjun Bridge-mae (about 5 minutes on foot) or at Hamamachi (about 10 minutes).
This structure received National Treasure status in 2023 as the first civil engineering work in Japan to earn the title. Though over 160 years old, it remains actively used for irrigating surrounding rice fields, highlighting its continued practical value.
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