Nakayama is in between Narita And Haneda International Airport

Shimada city / The Short Summary Of Shimada-shi

Shimada City laid on the both side of Ooi-gawa River, the city is located on the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. In Edo Period, Shimada flourished as a post town on Tokaido road. At that time, there were no bridge across the Ooi-gawa River as the protection of Edo (Tokyo) where the center of the samurai government, Edo Bakufu, so the Bakufu forbid to built any bridges across the river. Then carriers took the tourists on their back or shoulders to cross it and it contined until the Horai Bridge was built in 1879.

According to Hakone Kouta song, Hakone hachiri wa uma demo kosuga, kosuni kosarenu Ooi-gawa (Tourists could pass Mt.Hakone by horse, but they could not cross Ooi-gawa River.) This means that the road in Mt.Hakone is very hard to pass on foot, it is too difficult to cross Ooi-gawa River because the prohibition to cross the river were often issued by the government depending on weather. Once the prohibition was issued, there were thousands of tourists crowded in the small town, it looked like a street in Edo.

Moreover Shimada City is one the boundary between the east and west Japan. The city is on the Itoigawa-Sizuoka Tectonic Line (the Fossa Magna), it is a geographic difference between them, and the cultural differences are also divided around the line.

Ooigawa Tetsudo is now famou for running Steam Locomotives along Ooi-gawa River starts from Kanaya Station in Shimada City and the Horai Bridge, the longest wooden bridge in Japan is also famous, and they are popular landmarks of Shimada city.


参考
静岡県ホームページ
島田市ホームページ
島田市環境協会ホームページ
デジタル大辞林
ブリタニカ国際大百科事典
ウィッキペディア