Pedestrians were crossing the narrow street stretching between tall buildings

Person crossing the street in Kyobashi — Kyobashi pedestrian crossing

Kyobashi is lined with large buildings and the headquarters of many large companies. There is the head office of Ajinomoto, which produces umami seasonings that many Westerners dislike, the head office of Bridgestone, one of the world's leading tire manufacturers, and the head office of Meiji Holdings, which owns a food manufacturer and a pharmaceutical company. As a side note, I personally think that the discovery of umami seasonings is something that the world should be more proud of.

Although I never really think about it when I come to Kyobashi and Nihonbashi, the Chuo-dori Avenue around here used to be the Tokaido highway. The now defunct Kyobashi bridge was also a Tokaido bridge built to cross the Kyobashi River, and was the first bridge you crossed when leaving Nihonbashi for Kyoto.

The Kyobashi bridge used to be an important bridge with Giboshi on the main pillar. A Giboshi is an architectural decoration shaped like an upside-down onion. The only bridges in Edo (former Tokyo) that had Giboshi were Nihonbashi, Kyobashi, and Shimbashi, which shows the importance the Edo Shogunate placed on Kyobashi.

The Kyobashi bridge is said to have been as famous as the Nihonbashi bridge, and although it was painted by Utagawa Hiroshige and Kawase Hasui, there is no trace of it now. It was removed when the Kyobashi River, which flowed underneath, was reclaimed. An expressway now runs through the area where the river used to flow, and it is hard to believe that there used to be a river and a bridge here, as the river and the bridge have disappeared into thin air.

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