The is an unusual T-shaped three-way bridge in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The original bridge, constructed in 1932, was the aiming point for the 1945 Hiroshima atom bomb both because its shape was easily recognized from the air and its location was close to the center of the city. The current bridge was built in 1983 to a similar specification as the original.

History

The bridge was built in 1932 for street cars. Its approximately length spans the Honkawa and Motoyasu rivers. The

Enola Gay The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel (United States), Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the Atomi ...

targeted the bridge, releasing the bomb once it was within its sights. The bomb deviated from its intended target, missing the bridge by and hitting the

Shima hospital is a Japanese hospital, now clinic, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the exact location where the atomic bombing of Hiroshima took place on August 6, 1945. Shima Hospital is considered to be ground zero. In 1948, the hospital was rebuilt from the gr ...

instead. While not destroyed by the atomic blast, the bridge sustained significant damage. Following the explosion, a person who survived the event described witnessing the Aioi Bridge being lifted several meters into the air, only to settle back down onto its foundation afterwards. After the war, the bridge was repaired and remained in service for nearly four decades, before it was replaced in 1983 by a new bridge resembling the original. A surviving portion of a floor girder from the original bridge was subsequently donated to the

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II. The museum was established in August 1955 with the ...

. The longer part of the bridge crosses the

Ōta River is a river in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Geography Its main stream originates in (1,339 m) and empties, through a flood-control channel, into the Seto Inland Sea. The river is one of the major rivers in the prefecture and descends ...

just to the north of the island containing the district of . The downstroke of the "T" links the main bridge to the island, and is also the north entrance to the

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a memorial park in the center of Hiroshima, Japan. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear attack at the end of World War II, and to the memories ...

Slanted railing of Aioi bridge blasted by atomic bomb - Hiroshima City - Early September 1945 - Nihei Teiji

References

External links

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Virtual tour of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum: Aioi Bridge

Steel bridges in Japan Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Multi-way bridges Ōta River Bridges in Hiroshima Prefecture Transport in Hiroshima Buildings and structures in Hiroshima {{Japan-bridge-struct-stub