Nihonbashi Bridge

A stone double-arch bridge completed in 1911, carrying the Nihon Kokudo Rodo Hyoshiki — the national road origin marker — at its centre. Designated an Important Cultural Property in 1999. The expressway overhead is currently being put underground, with completion expected in the 2040s.

Use

Office tower

Area

Chuo City

Completed

1911

Developer

City of Tokyo

Architect

Shinichi Yonemoto (City of Tokyo Bridge Division) · Yorinaka Tsumaki (architectural design)

The Centre of All Roads

Nihonbashi Bridge crosses the Nihonbashi River in Chuo City, connecting Nihonbashi 1-chome with Nihonbashi Muromachi 1-chome. The current bridge was completed in 1911 (Meiji 44), a stone double-arch structure 49 metres long and approximately 27 metres wide. The stone used in the abutments and piers was quarried in Yamaguchi Prefecture; the arch surfaces and road deck use Inada granite from Ibaraki. Structural design was led by Shinichi Yonemoto of the City of Tokyo Bridge Division, while the architect Yorinaka Tsumaki designed the ornamental elements — the lion finials, the bronze kirin (mythical beast) sculptures, and the wrought-iron lantern posts — making this a rare collaboration between civil engineer, architect, and sculptor.

Embedded at the centre of the bridge deck is the Nihon Kokudo Rodo Hyoshiki, a bronze plate marking the origin of Japan’s national road network — the point from which all road distances across the country are measured. The Tokugawa shogunate established Nihonbashi as the starting point of the Five Highways in the Edo period; the Meiji government inherited that designation when it created the modern road system, and the marker has been here ever since.

The Expressway Above — and Its Removal

In 1999 the bridge was designated an Important Cultural Property as a representative example of Meiji-period stone arch road construction, valued for both its structural quality and its decorative design. But for decades the view from the bridge has been dominated not by open sky but by the concrete piers of an expressway built in 1963. The Metropolitan Expressway Inner Circular Route was constructed directly above the Nihonbashi River — an accepted compromise during a period of rapid economic growth when traffic capacity outweighed heritage concerns.

That is now changing. The Nihonbashi Expressway Undergrounding Project will relocate approximately 1.8 kilometres of the elevated route into a shield-bored tunnel below the river. Shield tunnelling work began in March 2024, with the underground route targeted to open in fiscal 2035 and the overhead viaduct scheduled for removal by 2040. The current configuration — stone arch bridge beneath a mid-century freeway — will eventually be a historical photograph.

Summary

Completed in 1911 and spanning 49 metres, Nihonbashi Bridge is a designated Important Cultural Property combining Meiji-era stone construction with architectural ornament. Its position as Japan’s road origin has held for over four centuries of city history.

Walk across and look down at the small bronze plate at the bridge’s centre: from this point, every national road in Japan begins. Nearby, Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower stands beside the registered Important Cultural Property Mitsui Main Building — another pairing of heritage and modernity that defines this corner of Chuo City. The ongoing expressway work is covered in detail in the Nihonbashi Expressway Undergrounding article.