Spring season is perfect to green tourism and sightseeing!

Japan has multihued wonderful places to go and see. Makinohara area in Shizuoka pref. in Japan also has a variety of destinations for sightseeing.

In the north-east part of Makinohara upland, beautiful tea plantations and fantastic view points lies along Ooi river as shown in the below.

The photo above was taken on the early morning in Feburary. Mt. Fuji and Ooi river were slightly colored by red and sun shine was creeping tea plantation.

Horai Bridge, the longest wooden bridge all over the world, was first built in 1879 (Meiji 12) and rebuilt in the 1960s because of flooding.

Its length is 897m (2944ft.), that has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the longest wooden bridge in the world in 1997.

This bridge has various features other than its length.

As for the historical aspect, this bridge has been constructed for developing Makinohara upland to cultivate tea plants. Before the bridge was built, Kawagoe Ninsoku had carried travelers to the opposite side of Ooi river on foot. Long time and labor were required to travel across Ooi river in Edo era and the early time of Meiji era. was not so good. There are some reasons why the bridge had not been established. The first one was water flux of Ooi river is too huge for the people in the Edo era to establish the bridge. Second reason was the purpose of defense for the capital of Edo Shogunate.

It takes 100 yens for passing the bridge. We should pay for the gatekeeper.

The bridge is connected to the agricultural load on Makinoara upland, which locates on the west side of Ooi river. Originally the bridge was constructed for the purpose of tea plantation establishment. 

Going the agricultural load on the west side of Ooi river, we can reach another spot related to the history of tea industry. That is the statue of Chujo Kageaki, who has lead tea farmers to open up the tea plantations.

From the backside of the statue, we can look a wonderful view of Mt.Fuji.

After walking and sightseeing around Hourai bridge, it is recommended to take a bath in the “Hot Spring of Horai”. It will take about 15 minutes from the east side of Hourai bridge on foot. We can refresh our mind and body by walking, sightseeing and hot spring.

Information
(1) Horai bridge
> Nearest station : Shimada station on JR Tokaido line.
> Reference : Please see the guide of Shimada city.
> Access : Taxi from Shimada station – About 10 minutes and 1,500 JPY. On foot from Shimada station. – About 20 minutes.

(2) Hot Spring of Hourai
> Address : Asahi 2-1-30, Shimada city, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan
> Nearest station : Shimada station on JR Tokaido line.
> Access : By bus from Shimada station, it takes 5 minutes. On foot from Shimada station, it takes about 30 minutes.