Kiyosu Bridge

A Chain Suspension Bridge over the Sumida

The Kiyosu Bridge (清洲橋) is a suspension bridge of the post-earthquake reconstruction of Tokyo of 1928 in Nihonbashinakasu, Chuo City, and Kiyosumi, Koto City, Tokyo, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on June 18, 2007 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a three-span stiffened steel suspension bridge, 186.2 metres long and 25.9 metres wide, with its south-east wing parapet and two reinforced concrete piers and two abutments included; designation number 02500.

A Self-Anchored Bridge of the Reconstruction

The Agency's commentary says that the Kiyosu Bridge, a road bridge over the lower Sumida River, was designed by a team led by Ota Enzo, head of civil engineering at the Home Ministry's Reconstruction Bureau, as part of the rebuilding of Tokyo after the Great Kanto Earthquake, and completed in March 1928. It is a broad three-span self-anchored stiffened suspension bridge, 186.2 metres long with a central span of 91.4 metres and a width of 25.9 metres.

Its piers and abutments are of reinforced concrete; chains hung from the towers are tied to the main girders at the ends of the bridge, and hangers link chains and girders (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Tokyo Bureau of Construction notes that it was modelled on a suspension bridge over the Rhine at Cologne, and planned as a pair with the neighbouring Eitai Bridge, a downward-hanging form answering that bridge's upward arch.

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Agency notes that it achieves a modern beauty based on the structural rationality pursued by the Reconstruction Bureau, uses the most advanced materials, structural form and methods of its day, and is important as the leading suspension bridge of the early Showa period.

What to Look For

Look at the curve of the chains hanging from the towers and the hangers that carry the girders (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Tokyo Bureau of Construction notes that the chains and towers are lit up at night.

Visiting

It is a road bridge owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and can be crossed on foot (Agency for Cultural Affairs).