Camphor tree

The covered bridge connects two sections of Wakayama Castle over the mort. This 27m-long, 3m-wide bridge connects the castle’s central residential area and the entertainment quarter in the west where musical performance took place. Only the lord and his attendants were allowed to cross the bridge. The bridge is on an angle (11%), a design said to be quite rare. A historian speculates that perhaps the design reflected a sense of fun and excitement of visiting the entertainment quarter. The bridge was recently restored using timber such as red pine, cypress, cherry and cedar. Wakayama castle was originally built by Toyotomi Family in 1585, and after several changes of reign, was resided by Tokugawa Shogunate for 250 some years (from 1619). The castle went through two burn-rebuilt, first in 1846 by lightening, and the WW2 air raid. On the quiet castle ground, there are a number of large trees, the largest of all being kusu (camphor, cinamomum camphora). The largest kusu is worshiped as the guardian tree for the local community (Wakayama Castle 和歌山城).