Megane Bridge

眼鏡橋Nagasaki

Sight

What makes this place special?

At a Glance

Megane Bridge is a stone double-arch bridge over the Nakashima River in Nagasaki. Its name means spectacles, as the two arches form a pair of circles with their reflection in the water. Mokushi Nyojō, a monk from China who became the second abbot of Kōfuku-ji, built it in 1634, and it is regarded as Japan's first stone arch bridge apart from one in the Ryukyu Kingdom.

The bridge is 22 metres long, 3.65 metres wide and 5.46 metres above the water, and it is an Important Cultural Property counted among Japan's three famous bridges. It is the only double-arch bridge among the stone bridges along the river. Floods in 1648 and 1982 damaged it, but it was repaired each time, with stones found downstream reused in the restoration. Underground bypass channels now ease flooding while leaving the bridge and river unchanged.