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Setonaikai NP, Ehime
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Before the observatory, the summit had been flattened for an earlier park. Kengo Kuma reshaped and replanted the hill, then hid the viewing route in a slit—so the building nearly disappears when seen from below.
The bridge below isn't one bridge but 3 suspension bridges joined in a straight line—the world's first triple-suspension-bridge system. The 4.1-km Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge opened in 1999.
Local legend says a traveling monk found a huge turtle carrying a golden Kannon in a seaside cave about 1,300 years ago. He brought the image up the mountain to enshrine it; the tale explains the name Kirosan.
Ships here must switch sides with the tide: Kurushima Strait's navigation rule changes between right-hand and left-hand traffic depending on the current. Japan's Cabinet Office calls it the world's only such system.
Kirosan's mid-slope is part of Oshima's 88-stop Shima-Shikoku pilgrimage, founded in 1807. The route circles the island for about 63 km, and Myōhōdō on this mountain is stop 34.
At peak flow, Kurushima Strait can run at 10 knots (about 18 km/h). To build the bridge in that rush, engineers developed a self-propelled barge that could hold station while lifting deck sections from below.
On Kirosan's mid-slope, a stone hōkyōintō beside Myōhōdō—not at the observatory summit—is traditionally regarded as Murakami Yoshihiro's memorial. An inscribed sutra container beneath it is said to have revealed the link.
The viewing route imitates a single pen stroke rather than leading to one crowded selfie platform. It winds to different outlooks, and every stretch gives a distinct view of the Seto Inland Sea.
From the 307.8-m summit, the panorama sweeps across the Kurushima Strait, Geiyo Islands and Hiuchinada Sea. On clear days, it reaches Mt. Ishizuchi, western Japan's highest peak.
