Kominato Railway Second Shibanoshita Bridge

The Smaller Twin of the First Shibanoshita

The Kominato Railway Second Shibanoshita Bridge (小湊鉄道第二柴の下橋梁) is a two-span steel girder bridge built around 1925 in the Futsukaichiba district of Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture; repaired in 1959, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on May 2, 2017.

The Kominato Railway Second Shibanoshita Bridge sits just southwest of the First Shibanoshita Bridge, so the two follow each other in quick succession across the fields south of Kazusa Yamada.

Fifteen-Foot I-Beams

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single-track, two-span steel girder bridge 11 meters long, with abutments and piers.

Instead of built-up plate girders, the spans use rolled I-beams 15 feet (about 4.6 meters) long, each a single piece of steel with an I-shaped section. The agency explains that the shorter spans called for a different girder type from its neighbor and rates these I-beams among the largest of the Taishō period anywhere in Japan.

The railway company gives the length as 9.14 meters; this article uses the agency's 11 meters.

Seeing It

The Kominato Railway Second Shibanoshita Bridge is on a working line, so view it from outside the track. The pleasure is in comparing it with the First Shibanoshita Bridge next door: deep built-up girders on one, slim rolled beams on the other.

Stay on farm lanes and public ground rather than in the paddies. The nearest station is Kazusa Yamada. As of September 25, 2026, trains between Goi and Kazusa Ushiku were running normally.