dazzling shirahige bridge one fine night: June 24 2024

i stumbled upon shirahige bridge one fine night and was dazzled by its beauty.
白鬚橋 in japanese kanji literally means "white beard bridge".
allow me to nerd out a bit, because the name in kanji is often miswritten as 白髭, which also reads as shirahige but with a slight difference.

• 鬚 - hige - beard on the chin
• 髭 - hige - mustache, beard on mouth

japanese can be quite particular but vague at the same time; different writing for different locations but still read the same.

this bridge's name is that referring to the chin, which was probably taken from how it is situated on the sumida river bend which looks a bit like the chin.
from here, you can see the "chin". (alright, i'm pushing it far)

by the looks of the bridge, it is clear where the "white" in its name came from.
from afar, that looked like sparkling diamonds on a metal framed jewelry.
the bridge has been illuminated from sunset till 11pm since 2020, adding more attractions for the tokyo olympics¹.
no complaints here on that decision.
ain't she lovely?

now on further readings, a wooden bridge was originally built in 1914 but was later changed to an iron one.
construction began on 1928 and finally completed on 1931 to what it is today, a braced balanced tied-arch bridge².
it has quite a wide side path for pedestrians on foot or bicycle; two lanes of pedestrians would fit comfortably.

this bridge lies on the boundaries of three different wards in tokyo; on the west side, arakawa and taito, and sumida on the east side.
it serves a major role on a very busy and important meiji dori avenue: a street which runs through all the major areas of tokyo like shibuya, harajuku, shinjuku, ikebukuro among many.

i decided to come here without even knowing what to expect but was not crestfallen at all.
it was a lovely bridge!
but aside from that, it has a spectacular view of the river and a famous tower.

just look at that view as seen on the bridge; tokyo sky tree as a centerpiece of the sumida river attractions.
just click on each image for a bigger picture.
this whole stretch is a photographers' dream, just look at all those lights.
fun fact, the tower is lit by led lights which change colors depending on the occasion.

now this one was taken on the river banks on the east side of the bridge.
i saw lots of people jogging on this path and a couple of nightwalkers, too.
this route would lead to the area i once took pictures of in this post:

i could have walked further but i had other appointments that night, it was a gym night.
i headed home on a very good mood.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!

_{all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified}

^{all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra}

This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Daily Activity, Gym, House Chores, Photowalking, Walking

Height 168.0 cm		Weight 71.9 kg		Body Fat 19.1 %
Waist cm		Thighs cm		Chest cm