West Yamaguchi · TsunoshimaNo.617★★★Open in map →

Tsunoshima Ohashi Bridge

natureThe classic — done right

A prefectural road that leaves the Yamaguchi coast, crosses a shallow strait and lands on a small island. Free to cross, open to anyone, and built low on purpose so that the sea stays the subject.

FromShimonoseki Station
~1 h 40 minJR then bus, few services
Get off atTakibe Station (JR San'in Line)
From there
Tsunoshima Ohashi Bridge

Directions ↗

Where it is

13 more notes in Yamaguchi · open the map →

What to look for — in walking order

Tsunoshima Lighthouseminato kaidou / CC BY-SA 2.0

Amagase Parkthe mainland terrace, where the span and the island line up in one frame
The crossing itselfa low deck with the water close enough on both sides to change colour as you go
Sezaki-Akari Parkthe island-side viewpoint, looking back along the bridge toward the mainland
Tsunoshima Lighthousea stone tower at the island's northwestern tip, at the far end of the island road

How to actually get there

Shimonoseki Station → Takibe Station (JR San'in Line, about 70 minutes).
Takibe Station → Hotel Nishi-Nagato Resort Iriguchi (Blue Line Kotsu bus, roughly half an hour).
Walk to the Amagase Park terrace and take in the whole span before crossing.
Cross to the island for the Sezaki-Akari viewpoint, then carry on to the lighthouse.

JR San'in Line from Shimonoseki, then a Blue Line bus: Shimonoseki Station →(JR San'in Line, about 70 minutes)→ Takibe Station, then a Blue Line Kotsu bus of roughly half an hour to the Hotel Nishi-Nagato Resort Iriguchi stop, which the Shimonoseki tourism association signposts as the bridge viewpoint. Services on both legs are thin, so build the day around the timetable rather than the other way round.
Return from Takibe Station: Take the bus back to Takibe Station and the San'in Line south toward Hatabu and Shimonoseki. Buses out to the island run only a handful of times a day, so read both timetables when you arrive rather than after you have taken your photographs.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

The bridge runs 1,780 metres from the hamlet of Kanda on the Yamaguchi mainland to the island of Tsunoshima, across a strait called Amagase-to. It is a prefectural road, and crossing it costs nothing. The design was deliberately kept quiet: few piers, a slack curve and a low deck, so the structure sits under the horizon rather than over it. The seabed here is crushed shell, pale and clean, and the water above it reads green where it is shallow and deep blue further out. Two parks were laid out to look at it, one on each shore.

How to enjoy it

Colour is the whole point here, so come when the sun is high enough to reach the seabed: the middle of the day does it, and flat cloud takes the green out of the water entirely. Buses are few, so fix the return before you walk down to the terrace. Driving in, park on the mainland side first and walk out to the viewpoint before you cross rather than after.

Background & history

Until 2000 the island was reached only by ferry. Winter swells cancelled sailings often enough to cause real trouble for medical care, schooling and fire cover, and the bridge was built to end that dependence. It was funded as a local road project rather than as a trunk route, and it was routed and shaped with the surrounding scenery in mind instead of as the shortest line between two shores. What went up as a lifeline is now the thing people drive across the prefecture to look at.

Before you go

Cash: Crossing the bridge is free and both viewing parks are open to anyone. This is a thin stretch of coast with little in the way of staffed facilities, so carry cash rather than assuming a card will work.
Good to know: The bridge is closed to traffic in strong winds, and typhoon season is when that happens, so check conditions before setting out. Neither viewpoint has shelter, and under heavy cloud the water reads grey rather than green.
Another way: By car, the Mine interchange of the Chugoku Expressway is about an hour away, with the Shimonoseki and Ozuki interchanges a similar run. A sightseeing open-top bus also works up from Takibe Station by way of the Hohoku roadside station to the island lighthouse.
After you get off: From Takibe Station the bridge lies northwest along the coast by bus. Get off at Hotel Nishi-Nagato Resort Iriguchi and the mainland viewing terrace is a short walk from the stop.

Nearby notes

Culture · Yamaguchi★★★