One Bridge, an Important Cultural Property since 2022
Wakato Bridge (若戸大橋, Wakato Ohashi) spans the water between Kawadai in Tobata ward and Honmachi in Wakamatsu ward, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, listed as an Important Cultural Property on 9 February 2022. The listing is as an Important Cultural Property, not a National Treasure, and the owner is Kitakyushu City.
The quantity is one bridge. It is a steel stiffened suspension bridge with a span of 627.3 metres and a width of 19.6 metres, with abutments of steel-framed reinforced concrete appended.
9 February 2022 is the day the halls of Kirishima Jingu became National Treasures and the Yoichi distillery an Important Cultural Property. This is the third property met on that date.
Reading Glosses Sit in the Commentary, in Round Brackets
Readings stand within the running text.
The Agency writes that the engineers resolved problems of wind loading and cable manufacture that came with lengthening a suspension bridge. In the record, the words for wind and for loading each carry a reading in round brackets.
The place name Tobata is treated the same way.
With the gilded bronze staff head and with the Gekimosho, similar glosses appeared in lenticular brackets.
Here the brackets are round. Reading glosses left exposed in the text come in two kinds of bracket.
The date field is written in full-width characters as well, giving 1962. That follows the Yoichi distillery as the second such case.
The Same Record Gives the Length to Different Precisions
The span appears twice, rounded differently.
The dimensions field gives 627.3 metres for the span and 19.6 metres for the width, to one decimal place.
The commentary gives 627 metres for the span and 367 metres for the central section, in whole numbers.
627.3 against 627, a difference of 0.3 metres. The field is exact and the text rounds.
With the lacquered dais, the Agency's dimensions field was empty and Shizuoka Prefecture supplied the measurements. With the former Gakushuin hall, the roofing material differed between the Agency and the city.
Here the difference falls within one record of the Agency, between a field and its own commentary. The figure of 367 metres appears only in the commentary.
Three Organisations Took Up the Survey and Design
Who built it is given as a list of organisations.
The Agency records that engineers and researchers of the newly established highway public corporation, together with the ministry's civil engineering research institute and the University of Tokyo, took up the survey and design.
A public corporation, a state research institute and a university: three bodies of differing standing.
With the Chikugo lift bridge, the record credited close cooperation among engineers of differing specialisms. That concerns fields of expertise.
Here it concerns the organisations they belonged to. At Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine, local carpenters were named; with the iron pagoda, Eison and the craftsman Fujiwara no Muneyasu.
Makers are recorded four ways: by personal name, by school, by specialism and by organisation. The record closes that this is Japan's first true long-span suspension bridge and important as such.
Visiting
The bridge runs from Kawadai in Tobata ward to Honmachi in Wakamatsu ward. It crosses between two wards of one city.
The Chikugo lift bridge crosses between Fukuoka and Saga Prefectures and has two owners, a city and a town. This one joins two wards of a single city and has one owner.
Of its scale, the record says it was built as a strait-crossing bridge on a scale that greatly exceeded the longest span then achieved in Japan.
It crosses Dokai Bay, joining the two industrial districts of Tobata and Wakamatsu.
The bridge remains in service as a road bridge. Whether it can be crossed on foot, and where it can best be seen from, follow the manager's own guidance. Check before travelling.
Q&A
- When was the bridge listed?
- On 9 February 2022, as an Important Cultural Property rather than a National Treasure. The quantity is one bridge and the owner Kitakyushu City.
- How long is it?
- The precision differs by record. The dimensions field gives 627.3 metres and the commentary 627 metres. The central section of 367 metres appears only in the commentary.
- Who designed it?
- The Agency names the newly established highway public corporation together with the ministry's civil engineering research institute and the University of Tokyo: three organisations.
- What is valued in it?
- The Agency writes that it was completed by gathering the best of industrial technique, and that it is important as Japan's first true long-span suspension bridge.
- What does it connect?
- Tobata and Wakamatsu wards of Kitakyushu City, described by the Agency as industrial districts. The bridge crosses Dokai Bay.
Basic Information
| Name | Wakato Bridge (若戸大橋, Wakato Ohashi) |
|---|---|
| Location | From Kawadai, Tobata ward, to Honmachi, Wakamatsu ward, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (structure); not a National Treasure |
| Year Designated | 2022 (9 February), Important Cultural Property |
| Quantity | 1 bridge |
| Dimensions | A steel stiffened suspension bridge. The dimensions field gives a span of 627.3 metres and a width of 19.6 metres, with steel-framed reinforced concrete abutments appended. The commentary gives a span of 627 metres and a central section of 367 metres. The date field reads 1962, written in full-width characters |
| Owner | Kitakyushu City |
| Public Access | Still in service as a road bridge; crossing and viewing follow the manager's guidance |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: Wakato Bridge
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/523677
- Kitakyushu City: Tobata ward
- https://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/tobata/kw7100006.html
- Kitakyushu City: Wakamatsu ward
- https://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/wakamatsu/file_0015.html
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.07