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Towada-Hachimantai NP, Iwate
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In 2010, a 4WD bonnet bus more than 40 years old made winter runs on the road across Mori no Ohashi toward Matsukawa Onsen, climbing about 300 m over 6 km in 20 minutes.
The white cascade visible below the bridge includes a sabo dam—an erosion-control structure. It helps catch debris from this volcanic landscape and protect hot-spring communities and homes downstream.
About 200 m along the road toward Matsukawa Onsen, a path leads down to orderly, six-sided basalt columns beside the river. They formed as cooling rock contracted and cracked.
The foliage hides a 1972 engineering feat: Mori no Ohashi is 141.4 m long, with an 80 m longest span. It was built using cantilever construction, a method recorded by Japan’s cantilever-method association.
Akashide, one of the bridge’s signature red trees, is named for its color and dangling flowers, which resemble the zigzag paper shide on shrine ropes. Its color can linger from August into November.
