Kintaikyo Bridge

This guide to Kintaikyo Bridge in Iwakuni, near Hiroshima, opens at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, where commander Kikkawa Hiroie froze his three thousand men on a ridge after striking a secret deal with the enemy, a choice his own side branded treachery for generations. It follows his descendants as they built a flood-prone town under that shame, and the lord who finally set out to bridge the river separating castle from town. Stand at the riverbank and picture two centuries when only samurai were allowed to cross.