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Chubu-Sangaku NP, Nagano
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Akutagawa Ryūnosuke hiked from Kamikochi toward Mt. Yari in 1909. In his 1927 novella *Kappa*, a character remembers this bridge while tumbling into the spirits’ world—a surreal literary cameo that helped spread its name.
Nobody knows for sure why the bridge is named for kappa. One story says a deep pool nearby seemed fit for a water spirit; another says people wading across with clothes balanced on their heads looked like one.
Kamikochi’s first mountain-opening festival was held at Kappa Bridge on April 27, 1967. Today, alpine horns, prayers for mountain safety, lion dance and a ceremonial sake-barrel opening welcome spring by the river.
Five keshōyanagi, or “makeup willows,” grow by Kappa Bridge’s right bank. Their young twigs wear a white, waxy coating—hence the name—and in Japan the species grows naturally only in scattered areas, including Kamikochi and Hokkaido.
The bridge’s first date is unknown, but its early form was made from timbers projecting out from both banks. It became a suspension bridge in 1910; rebuilds in 1930, 1957, 1975 and 1997 produced today’s fifth span.
A railing from two generations before today’s Kappa Bridge survives near the entrance to Kamikochi Visitor Center. It is an actual fragment removed during a replacement, not a replica.
