Abstract
Concerning the main bridges of the Meiji Era Tokyo, the bridge data, such as bridge length, width and type were known so far, but the bridge designers (especially the middle period of the Meiji Era) are not known unexpectedly. This paper mainly clarify the personal history of Yoshitsugu KURATA, an engineer of Tokyo Prefecure and Hikosaburo KANAI Tokyo City engineer and also the bridges designed by them.
KURATA designed the Azuma bridge, the first long iron bridge which crossed the Sumida river and after that he did the Umaya and Eitai bridges as the principal engineer. But he was not well known. Why? This time I understood that he died three years later after the completion of the Eitai bridge.
I also make clear the following.
1. KANAI designed the most main bridges in Tokyo in the middle and late period of the Meiji Era.
2. Especially he learned an arch theory by self-education and it is KANAI that designed the arch bridges which harmonized with a townscape and were built willingly in those days.
