Yawata city
Nagare-bashi Bridge


Modern Times
Location Site for Costume Plays

Kozuya Bridge, spanning the Kizu River, connects Yawata City and Kumiyama-cho and is popularly known as Nagare-bashi. Built in 1951 with a total length of about 356.5m, it is the longest extant wooden bridge. Since the municipal government could not construct a permanent bridge for a financial reason, a new bridge was so designed as to flexibly respond to any water flow in case of a flood. If the water level of the river rises and the bridge boards get under water, the boards will automatically surface and be divided into eight blocks. The blocks are connected with each other by wires, flowing like a pennon. The bridge is so named since nagare means a flow and bashi a bridge. As the water level goes down, the wires will be pulled to rejoin the blocks into the whole bridge.
Stretching around the bridge is a sand riverbed with no concrete embankment structures or utility poles, so the area is often chosen as a location site for costume plays. On holidays, the area also serves a year-round recreation zone in which families and young people can enjoy barbecues, sports and so on.

Source: The Yawata municipal government

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