osakajapan

Inaugurating Nonin-Basha Bridge, Osaka (LOC)

from The Library of Congress

• swanq said:

  Osaka appears to have 808 bridges. See www.city.osaka.lg.jp/kensetsu/cmsfiles/contents/0000042/4... www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC312HN_noninbashi-pedestrian... suggests that it (or more likely its replacement) is a "huge pedestrian bridge constructed under the highway." One of the comments says "What a huge intersection with the longest pedestrian bridge ever" and has a photo of the location in 2017. www.city.osaka.lg.jp/contents/wdu020/enjoy/en/overview/pd... has a map that shows the location of today's Nonin Bridge. It's roughly in the center of the map, crossing the Higashi-Yokobori river. The intersection is of Matsuyamachi Avenue and Chuo-odori Street. It's also a highway intersection. See goo.gl/maps/WqBEa8tMn9k

• swanq said:

  www.cujucr.com/downloads/pdf_6_2008/Koichi Kana.pdf has a historical discussion of the Higashi-Yokobori river (actually a canal) and describes 1912-1926 (Taisho period) as the period of Dai Osaka “Great Osaka” with modern architecture coming to line the riversides.

• Art Siegel said:

  In Getty Images with a slightly different title: "Inauguration, celebration Naniwa - Basha Bridge, Osaka" www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/inauguration-celebr...

• swanq said:

  Art Siegel : Good find! In my earlier explorations, I found: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naniwa Naniwa-kyō, the place that became the modern Japanese city of Osaka Naniwa-ku, Osaka, one of the 24 wards of Osaka City, Japan

• Jon (LOC P&P) said:

  Thanks swanq, I think your first thought may be correct. One of the curators in our division is Japanese so I asked her to take a look at this photo. We now think it is the Noninbashi (農人橋) bridge, ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%BE%B2%E4%BA%BA%E6%A9%8B. The Wikipedia page says that the previous version was built in 1926 and if you look at the top of our photo you'll see the date 11/29/26 in reverse. The "no" would translate to farming or agriculture, the "nin" to people, and "bashi" is bridge.