Saruhashi Bridge

One of Japan's Three Unusual Bridges, Saruhashi spans the Katsura River gorge using an ingenious cantilever system of layered wooden beams that requires no pillars in the water below. Legend attributes the design to a 7th-century engineer who watched monkeys form a chain across the ravine. The bridge sits 30 meters above the turquoise river, with a viewing platform below that reveals the engineering up close.