Kominato Railway First Shibanoshita Bridge

Three Steel Spans Across the Paddies

The Kominato Railway First Shibanoshita Bridge (小湊鉄道第一柴の下橋梁, Dai-ichi Shibanoshita Kyōryō) is a three-span steel girder bridge built around 1925 in the Futsukaichiba district of Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on May 2, 2017.

It crosses open rice fields about 500 meters south of Kazusa Yamada Station, with the registered Second Shibanoshita Bridge immediately to its southwest.

Plate Girders to a Government Pattern

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the Kominato Railway First Shibanoshita Bridge as a three-span steel girder bridge 19 meters long, with abutments and piers. Its girders are riveted plate girders 20 feet (about 6.1 meters) long.

The agency notes that they follow the standard state-railway girder set out in Directive No. 540 of 1919. The telltale detail is at the ends of the vertical stiffeners on the girder web, which are crimped, bent over to sit on the web plate.

The railway company gives the length as 18.3 meters; this article follows the agency's figure of 19 meters.

Seeing It

The Kominato Railway First Shibanoshita Bridge carries a working line, so it can only be viewed from outside the track, from the surrounding farm lanes. The agency calls it an accent in the wide rural landscape, and the low run of three spans is easy to pick out across the flat fields.

The crimped stiffeners are a small detail that needs a closer viewpoint. Keep off fields and private land. The nearest station is Kazusa Yamada. As of September 25, 2026, trains between Goi and Kazusa Ushiku were running normally.