1926 Timelines: 1901-1950

Constructs Eitaibashi Bridge, Tokyo.

In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake hit Tokyo and bridges across the Sumidagawa River collapsed. Kawasaki constructed replacement bridges such as the Kiyosubashi Bridge, Shirahigebashi Bridge and Eitaibashi Bridge, which became well known for their elaborate designs. Kawasaki utilized state-of-the-art technology for these bridges. For example, it adopted high-tensile steel (Ducol steel), made at the Company’s Hyogo Works, for the first time in Japan for the upper cables of the Kiyosubashi, an elegant suspension bridge, and for the lower connections of the Eitaibashi, a massive steel arch bridge. In that era, Kawasaki received orders from the Earthquake Reconstruction Bureau and other organizations in Japan for 25 bridges in total, including the bridges mentioned above, requiring 16,000 tons of steel. Kawasaki also constructed the Kachidokibashi Bridge across Sumidagawa River. The leaf-lift (trunnion bascule) bridge is built on a model of the same type of drawbridge in Chicago. The bascules, which hold the bridge center of 44 meters, can raise to a maximum of 70 degrees, making large ship traffic possible. However, the bridge no longer opens today, due to new regulations to ease road traffic jams.