is a Japanese national highway running on the islands of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

and

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. The highway originates at a junction with Routes 10 and

210 Year 210 ( CCX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Faustinus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 963 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 210 for this y ...

in Ōita and terminates at a junction with Route 56 in

Susaki, Kōchi file:Susaki city-office.jpg, 270px, Susaki City Hall file:Susaki city center area Aerial photograph.2016.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Susaki city center file:横浪黒潮ライン - panoramio (3).jpg, 270px, Yokonami-Kuroshio coast is a Cities of J ...

. The route is interrupted between Saganoseki area of Ōita (where it joins with Route 217) and

Ikata, Ehime is a small peninsula town located in Nishiuwa District, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 8,497 in 15638 households and a population density of 90 persons per km2. The total area of the town is Following a rece ...

because of the

Hōyo Strait The is the strait at the narrowest part of the Bungo Channel in 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 ...

, and traffic between the two islands is carried by a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

between the two towns. Though the gap is less than 15 km at the strait's narrowest point, there are currently no plans to bridge the gap.

History

Route 197 was originally designated on 18 May 1953 from Matsuyama to Kōchi. This was redesignated as Route 56 on 1 April 1963.

Route description

The road is affectionately nicknamed "Melody Line". As a result, it gained two

musical road A musical road is a road, or section of a road, which when driven over causes a Somatosensory system, tactile vibration and Hearing, audible rumbling that can be felt through the wheels and body of the vehicle. This rumbling is heard within the ...

segments located in Ikata, the first of which was placed on the road to celebrate its anniversary of being built in 2011, so the road could literally have a "melody". The second segment was not completed until 2018. Two Japanese folk songs can be heard, one in each direction, when these short segments of the road are driven over. The songs are created by grooves in the roadway (

rumble strip Rumble strips (also known as sleeper lines or alert strips) are a traffic calming feature to alert inattentive drivers of potential danger, by causing a tactile vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through a vehicle's wheels into its inte ...

s) arranged to form melodies.

References

197 Roads in Ehime Prefecture Roads in Kōchi Prefecture Roads in Ōita Prefecture Musical roads in Japan 1963 establishments in Japan {{Japan-road-stub