Spot

After the Meiji government nationalized the Ikuno Silver Mine, in an effort to increase silver production, the Gin no Bashamichi horse-drawn carriageway was constructed for carrying necessary materials and other goods. The project’s 20 bridges of various sizes built along the road were particularly difficult tasks. The longest of these bridges was the Yabutabashi Bridge spanning some 167 meters between Yabuta and Tohori villages in Himeji City. Upon completion of the horse-drawn carriageway, the bridge was renamed Ikunobashi Bridge, and the Bashamichi Shuchiku Monument was erected nearby. The reason the monument was placed here instead of at the Ikuno Silver Mine or Shikama-tsu Port—the road’s start and end points—is said to be because this bridge was the most difficult to construct.