genkaibashi 厳海橋

Lit. Genkai bridge. A type of bridge used to span deep garden streams or ravines. It is constructed with a triangular timber framework which may be filled in with small logs. Because this type of bridge was supposedly built at the Genkai Straits, it was called genkaibashi by Akizato Ritō 秋里籬島 in his Ishigumi sono yaegakiden 石組園生八重垣伝 (1827). A genkaibashi is sometimes called kisobashi 木曽橋 or untaikyō 雲帯橋. When covered with earth, it is called genkai dobashi 厳海土橋.