The Kazurabashi Vine Bridge has Re-Opened!
The re-openeing ceremony was held on February 22, 2021
At the ceremony it was a who's-who of Miyoshi leadership, including the city mayor, the heads of the tourism and education departments, the council chief for the Kazurabashi Vine Bridge, as well as the honorary citizens who were to be the first people to walk across the freshly re-built bridge.
The local Shinto priest was also here to give blessings to the new span as well as to all the people present for this auspicious event.
As is the tradition across Japan which has been taking place for hundreds of years, whenever a new bridge is built, the first people to honorarily cross are a family composed of three generations of married couples.
The purpose of this tradition is from the concept that a married couple represents a link between two entities (as does a bridge), and three generations of the same family signify longevity and prosperity, and this good fortune is thereby bestowed to any new bridge.
For this event, the honorary three generations were of the Tani family of Higashi-Iya (Oku-Iya) who are well known throughout the valley as being active contributors to the local community.
Mr. Tani and his wife (the eldest couple) operate the Tani Shoten grocery and cafe in Oku-Iya, which has been in operation for over 80 years and always a great place to stop for a coffee or some snacks. The middle couple is comprised of their son Tani Satoshi, who runs his own IT company in Ikeda, and his wife who is a nurse at a local hospital. And the youngest couple includes grandson Tani Hiroki who works for the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority and helps maintain the Seto Ohashi Bridge which connects Shikoku to the rest of Japan (how perfectly fitting!).
Many thanks go out to all those who helped re-build the Iya-no-Kazurabashi, and may it continue to enchant and excite everyone who visits!
