A bridge built in 1838, saved by the love of its community

I went to Shiomibashi on a photographing trip during cherry-blossom season. The bridge was built in 1838. Local residents became strongly attached to it, which saved it some years later when it was threatened with demolition.

Bridges are no longer built of stone this way in Japan. Here in Oita, each such bridge you see is slightly different from the others. Perhaps the craftsmen of former days were vying with each other to display their skills. Contemplating past worlds is one of the pleasures of gazing at stone bridges like this.

Shiomi means "viewing the tides." Houses are built too densely in the area now to allow for vistas, but this was likely once a place where people could watch the ebb and flow of the sea. I release the shutter on my camera. When I'm photographing old structures, I imagine the history contained within them. This time, I see in my mind's eye — a little romantically, perhaps — the women who might have waited here on Shiomi Bridge for their husbands' fishing boats to return to shore.

I take another picture. The cherry blossoms gracing Shiomibashi do not seem very old: they may not have existed when the bridge was built. Perhaps the locals who loved this bridge planted them so that future generations could enjoy the pairing of the rugged old stones with the ephemeral pink of the sakura.