A Japanese garden is impossible to imagine without bridges
In traditional Japanese gardens, one can often encounter bridges that are not at all an element connecting two banks; in this case, their function is purely symbolic. No less important to remember is that Japanese architectural tradition excludes the construction of large bridges (except in cases of acute practical necessity), and the most common materials for creating garden bridges have long been stone, turf, and wood.
One of the most characteristic Japanese bridges is the wooden humpback bridge. Its surface is noticeably curved, and its shape directly evokes the legendary bridge connecting the world of humans with the world of immortals, who spend their endless ages on a magical island that no mortal can reach. That is why walking on the humpback bridge is strictly forbidden.
Stone bridges, assembled from oblong stone slabs (or individual stones), on the contrary, are created specifically for walking and are a kind of continuation of the garden path. Moreover, most often their surface is slightly raised (by about 10 centimeters) above ground level in order to attract the attention of walkers to the change in the surrounding landscape.
In our country, craftsmen who create Japanese-style gardens on household plots have gotten used to simplifying the technology of their construction. For example, they use concrete rings for building bridges – there are plenty of them and there is plenty to choose from. Properly installed and skillfully decorated with plants and various materials, they fit perfectly into the garden interior.
A truly unusual and delightful Japanese bridge – yatsuhashi (from Japanese: yatsu – eight, hashi – bridge) – is indeed a peculiar combination of 8 (or 3, etc.) united small bridges – planks, arranged at unusual angles to each other, which creates a clear sensation of moving along a zigzag surface.
Yatsuhashi is one of those bridges where a walk should be exclusively calm and contemplative in nature. For example, if yatsuhashi is made of wood, the bridge boards are not fastened to the supporting surface in any way, remaining simply placed on horizontal beams.