Sakaide is an industrial town of 60,000 located 22 km west of Takamatsu. It is a traditional area for sea-salt production. Sakaide is the site of the mausoleum of Emperor Sutoku, who ruled Japan from 1119-1164 and is buried atop Mount Shiramine, seven km northeast of the city. The city is known for the series of wharfs and factories that produce and ship chemicals and salt-based fertilizers. Sakaide is the Shikoku terminus of the Seto Ohashi Bridge.
The Seto Ohashi Bridge
The route via the Seto Ohashi Bridge was the first of three routes linking Japan's main island of Honshu and Shikoku to traffic. The route crosses the Seto Inland Sea. It joins the city of Kurashiko, in Okayama Prefecture on the Honshu side, with Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, on the Shikoku side. The route was opened in 1988.
Stretching across a total distance of 9.4 kilometers (5.8 miles) there are six bridge sections that span the gaps between islands that lie between the two cities, as well as four viaducts on the islands themselves. the whole route is a double-decker construction, with an expressway running above a railway. In terms of scale, it is the largest combined road and rail bridge system in the world. Among all, the 1100-meter (3,609-foot) central span of the 1,723-meter (5,653-foot) long Minami Bisan Seto Ohashi Bridge at the southernmost end is, on its own, the worlds longest combined road and rail bridge.
Construction began in October, 1978. A total of over 1 trillion yen (7,692 million dollars; $1=/130) was spent on this huge project, and it took ten years to complete, in April 1988. At present, only normal trains are accommodated, but for future integration into the national high-speed railway network, the railway section is also designed to accommodate Shinkansen "bullet" trains. Due consideration has been given to the forces of nature, and the structure can withstand winds of up to 65 meters per second (146.25 mph) and earthquakes of magnitude 8.5.
Sakaide Summary and Highlights
Sakaide is the biggest trading port in Shikoku, dealing with about 34,700 cargo ships and tankers each year. Until the 1960s it was known for the greatest salt production in Japan. Visiting Kamada Kyosai-kai Kyodo Hakubutsu-kan Museum is like visiting Sakaide as it used to be. There are lots of interesting objects from the earliest salt-making pots (300-600 A.D.) to innovations in the 19th century by Kume Tsuken, the founder of Sakaide as a Salt City. Many political innovations took place in Japan during the 19th century, as boundary lines and formal municipal political-economic charters were drawn.
Modernization has brought a new complex of what used to be salt paddies, a complex consisting of power plant, oil refinery, shipyard, foundry, coke factory and coal-tar pitch carbon fiber manufacturing.
This industrial area is bordered with a park area. The Seto Ohashi Bridge Memorial Park features the Dodama-jishi Monument as the guardian of the bridge. There is a Memorial Hall, and large wooden-domed coliseum, an event plaza, and seafood restaurant with rotating observation tower (132 meters tall)
Bannosu Koen Park is a sporting center with baseball diamond, playground and swimming pools equipped with modern facilities.
The Shami area was the site of an ancient civilization. Nakanda Beach, opposite the Memorial Park, is known for its excavations of stoneware and earthenware items of different ages of antiquity, including salt-making ovens from the 4th century to the 7th century. Many of them are exhibited at Sakaide-shi Kyodo Shiryokan Museum. Kakinomoto-no Hitomaro Monument on the same beach celebrates the poet's dedication of a dirge to a drowned sailor he found among the rocks on the shore. The poem is often quoted to express the beauty of Sanuki, locale and setting of Sakaide City and Kagawa Prefecture:
"Laced with pearly seaweed, the Province of Sanuki is an eternal feast to the eye."
Tokiwa Koen Park
Tokiwa Koen Park is a fine recreation center on a green hill, commanding a view of the archipelago spanned by the Seto Ohashi Bridge to the north and Sanuki Plain featuring the beautiful mountains to the south. Shiogama-jinja Shrine on the eastern slope of the hill is dedicated to a sea god, Owatatsumi-no-mikoto, along with Kume Tsuken and his patron, Lord Matsudaira IX. It came into being in downtown Sakaide in 1826 when Tsuken prayed for success in his salt-making operations.
This is also a favored place for Shinto-style wedding ceremonies. The Shiogama gods are believed to bring easy delivery to female worshippers.
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