The is an unusual "T"-shaped

three-way bridge A multi-way bridge is a bridge with three or more distinct and separate spans, where one end of each span meets at a common point near the centre of the bridge. Unlike other bridges which have two entry-exit points, multi-way bridges have three ...

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The original bridge, constructed in 1932, was the

aiming point {{Unreferenced, date=April 2007 In field artillery, the accuracy of indirect fire depends on the use of aiming points. In air force terminology the aiming point (or A.P.) refers to holding the intersection of the cross hairs on a bombsight when fixe ...

for the 1945

Hiroshima atom bomb "Little Boy" was the type of atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 during World War II, making it the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. The bomb was dropped by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress ''Enola Gay'' p ...

because its shape was easily recognized from the air and also because the bridge was close to the center of the city. Although the bridge was not destroyed by the atomic blast, it did sustain heavy damage. After the war, the bridge was repaired and remained in service for nearly four decades, before it was replaced by a new bridge (built as a replica) in 1983. A surviving portion of a floor girder from the original bridge was subsequently donated to the

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is a museum located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan, dedicated to documenting the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in World War II. The museum was established in August 1955 with the H ...

Slanted railing of Aioi bridge blasted by atomic bomb - Hiroshima City - Early September 1945 - Nihei Teiji

The longer part of the bridge crosses the

Ōta River is a 103 kilometer (64 mile) long river in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Its main stream originates in (1,339m) and empties through a flood control channel into the Seto Inland Sea. The river is one of the major rivers in the prefecture and desce ...

just to the north of the island containing the district of . The downstroke of the "T" links the main bridge to the island, and is also the north entrance to the

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is a memorial park in the center of Hiroshima, Japan. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear attack at the end of World War II, and to the memorie ...

References

External links

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Virtual tour of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum: Aioi Bridge

Bridges in Japan Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Three-way bridges Ōta River {{Japan-bridge-struct-stub