Ohashi Natural Bridge

 

If you follow the path up behind Ohashi Kannonji Temple you arrive at the Ohashi itself.

Formed when the roof of a cave collapsed, the natural bridge is about 30 meters long and about 4 meters wide and is split into two sections for most of it.

Scattered around the cliffs underneath it are numerous statues, the biggest being a Fudo Myo.

The community of ferns growing here is quite unusual and is registered as a National Natural Monument.

The natural bridge was one of the historic Hirado Hakkei, the "eight scenic views of Hirado Domain"

Unlike the American Southwest where the natural bridges and arches can be seen dramatically, here in Japan the dense vegetation makes them less than  impressive, but the biggest one in Japan, Onbashi in Hiroshima, is actually quite impressive.

The previous post in this series on day 68 of my walk around Kyushu was on the Ohashi Kannon Temple.